Bayville Rule
by SilverCrystal029
Summary: The institute is left grieving when Logan takes a mission, one that will be his last. Some consider whether they will be X-Men or if they can go on at all. When a familiar, white whiskered man appears who's so much like Logan, can he help everyone heal from their crippling loss? Or, is his baggage too great?
1. Prologue

Someone had finally caught on to Kitty's routine. In the aftermath of dinner, she would slip upstairs and slip into clothes that had gotten too small for Tabitha (promiscuous and out of character for her). Her roommate would be in her bed, but she wouldn't rouse. Then, she'd phase off the balcony and undetected off the property and into the night. From there, she did what she wanted. Her fake I.D worked like a charm. She was Belinda, a woman who loved to party. Who lived in a world where_ He_ wasn't gone.

This time, the ginger haired telepath stood in her way. She studied the large, pink button up she was wearing, clearly Scott's. Kitty remembers wearing Lance's ratty shirts. Simpler, better times when_ he_ was still here to argue with her about it. "What are you doing?" She had her mom voice on. Kitty's face screwed up, she wasn't in the mood for this.

"Jean, y-"

_"What_ are you wearing? Go inside." She pointed a long arm towards the mansion. Kitty huffed.

"This isn't even as bad as what _Rogue_ used to wear to school." She begins, ready to argue. School felt like such a long time ago, even she had graduated. Jean shook her head.

"She wore tights and an over-shirt." She looked at Kitty's two piece ensemble, a short black tank top and a short skirt to match. Tiny booties, and she's still barely her breast height. Wolverine would've shredded the outfit, he'd done it before. She never would've worn if he were still there. It was time to address the elephant suffocating them all. "You've taken advantage of this situation, enough."

The younger girl's face flushed red, shocked by Jean's bluntness. _"Oh?_ Like, I am _so_ glad Logan is dead so I can go and sip mojitos? _Really_, Jean?" The psychic only folded her arms.

"What do you call using a blanket of grief to do it? Stop it, Kitty." Her brows furrowed in concern. "It's _dangerous_, even if you are a mutant. And, we both know you don't _really_ want to do it." It wasn't that Jean enjoyed being the walking form of therapy she was, but she could feel all of her friends' and teammates' feelings. It was something she couldn't help, and if reading Kitty like a book would help her behavior, then she'd do it.

She shook her head, ponytail bobbing. "You're_ not_ my mother, Jean. I'm not in school, anymore." Tears in her eyes, she moved to walk around her. "You can't tell me what to do." She squealed in frustration when she held a hand up, halting the college freshman. She tried but failed to move against the telepath's telekinesis.

"I will make you if I have to. That's what Logan would _want_ me," When the red head's breath hitched, Kitty's posture sank. Then, she let her out of her telekinetic hold. They all missed him so much, even Scott. He was maybe being driven crazy by his absence most of all. It was all Jean felt, all over the mansion. Heartbreak.

She sighed, pulling the girl close to her as tears welled in her eyes. "What are we gonna _do_? I just can't-" She held her tighter, feeling tears stain the thin fabric of her shirt.

"I know, Kitty. But, it's going to be okay..." She stroked the brunette's soft hair, tenderly. "He trained us for this. He... Was never going to leave us if we weren't ready. So, don't worry. We'll figure it out together." Kitty gasped into Jean's chest, grabbing fistfuls of her shirt. She'd told her that before, but it was getting hard to believe. There was a gaping hole left in the institute. "I'm scared too," She admitted. The future, and a future without Logan was unprecedented.

Kitty had always felt so safe with him, they all did. They never imagined that he wouldn't be there one day. It was unthinkable. She stroked her head while the girl sobbed, glad she was finally facing it._ 'If only Rogue were so easy.'_

_"So," Her grey eyes were anxious, desperate to appeal to the familiar ones in front of her. S.H.I.E.L.D had contacted him. Fury, too. There were more like him, like Laura. She knew what he was about to do. "Let me come with you. We'll both survive." She ripped the sleeve of her brown, X-bomber up to reveal a milky arm. "Ah can take bullets, lasers. Whatever. Ah'll get you there, get ALL of them." He stared at wavy locks, tucked behind her ear. Just grazing her shoulders. _

_Weapon X was not a joke. They could get their hands on any student and weaponize them. Especially, her. Her new, strange powers were already the result of engineering gone wrong, in a stint captured by researchers using her as a guinea pig. He can't bare the thought of what they could do to her. All of them. They had to stay away. This was his mission and his alone, it was the only way. _

_"Marie," The name flies easily off his tongue, now. She wasn't Rogue. A scrawny teenager. A child he looked after, even Stripe. She was his equal. A woman. An X-Man. The best thing he'd ever done or invested in. "Honey..." He tries, seeing the angry tears well in her eyes. He reaches for her and she pulls away, the wind whipping his wild hair. _

_"NO. You wouldn't let ME rush off t'my death!" Her accent was coming on thick in her fearful rage. Of course she's scared, she's the only one who fully realized what he was about to do. He wouldn't meet her stare or deny it. She moved forward in the black X-Suit, grey shirt shrugged over. "LOGAN," He looked into terrified, defiant eyes. Even if he said no, she was gonna fly her ass there, anyways. She flew faster than all the vehicles, like a bullet. _

_"Ya wanna be hard-headed? Fine? Suit up, cupcake. But, ya ain't ready." He stared, hard into her eyes. She crossed her arms in seeming satisfaction. _

_"Fine, just let me-" The moment she turned the adamantium needle pierced her neck. Tears in his eyes, she fell right into his arms without a noise. He wiped his face with the back of his arm. _

_"I'm sorry, darlin'. Can't have you chasin' after me. This is my fight. This is my ledger, this is where it ends." He kissed the silver of her hair and lifted her in his arms. Gambit moved from the shadows, his face grim. _

_"Don't have t'be dis way." He stared at the man, hard. He had gotten to know Laura in his time at the institute, and he understood why he had to do what he was doing. But, they could do it together. If he did it alone he would die, and he knew that would shatter the girl in his arms. "We kin figure somethin' out, Wolvie." He only grunted as he passed the girl off to him, reluctantly. _

_"My mission. My fight. You don't know those guys like I do." Remy looked down at the sleeping girl and shook his head. "I have to do this, Remy. I, alone." The cajun's brow furrowed, the black skin suit framing his face and matching his eyes. _

_"What she gon' do wit'out ya? Dis school, de kids..." Logan shut his eyes tight and growled. He knew what he was giving up. But, those kids deserved to be free. They deserved a chance. Weapon X had to be stopped. _

_"You gonna look after her," He snarled, daring the thief to refuse. "All of 'em. I've seen you with Laura." An even odder pairing than him and Rogue, they just resonated with each other. Even Rogue teased him about the side of him she brought out. Gentle. Nurturing. Serious, for once in his goofy life. "You know what to do, LeBeau. I've shown you." _

_The southerner only shut his eyes, angry at the decision he's making. Rogue dangled in his arms. "Jus' reconsider. Le-" Logan's fists clenched tight, this wasn't up for debate as they stood in the hangar. _

_"Take care of her, LeBeau. I mean it. Tell them all they'll be okay, now. There's nothin' more to teach 'em." Remy held Rogue tight. "Tell Half-Pint... Jubilee." He hung his head. "Tell Marie, I'm sorry. And, tell Red I'll see her next lifetime." With that, the southerner watched as Logan boarded the helicopter on his final mission. _


	2. Old Man

_She didn't believe them. She didn't care. Remy cried, begged her to listen. To try to understand. She took off flying through the roof. All the way to Muir. He was standing there, shining in the sun. A statue made of adamantium, the same substance coating his whole skeleton. Maybe the one, the only thing that could kill him. Paused mid-stride. She just stood on the cloudy beach, the waves lapping at her ankles._

_The salty, cold air stinging white skin. Waving hair just from the humidity._

_She didn't move when Kitty and Kurt found her. Not when they cried. Not when Scott and Jean wrapped a blanket around her. Not when Ororo pleaded with her to come back to the jet. Even after they'd moved him to take to Hank, to figure out what to do with him. Piotr tried to beg, even gently tug. But, Carol Danvers' latent strength made it easy for her to pull away. _

_It wasn't until a well timed phase and teleport from Kurt and Kitty, and even then she did not move. _

_"He wouldn't do that, he wouldn't JUST..." Her breaths were ragged gasps, the entire infirmary shaking as her panic surged. She woke up, the last thing she remembered was trying to stop him. Keep him from killing himself. Thunder boomed and lightning crashed on the institute. Where was Logan? How long was she asleep? He was probably already... Just the thought makes Jean scream out in agony, filtering her pained emotions on accident. Scott tried to call out to her, but her eyes were wild. She wouldn't listen. _

_"Rogue-"_

_"He wouldn't just leave me. He wouldn't." The man tricked her so she wouldn't follow. She knew he did. He had to. Before Jean could do anything, she took off through the basement roof._

_"Rogue, please! Wait!" _

* * *

Scott sat with his forehead pressed against Kitty and Rogue's door. A week and a half without Wolverine was feeling like a year, and even longer since he'd seen his teammate. She wouldn't leave the room, only Kitty confirming that she still existed. And even then, the younger mutant had a habit of making herself scarce. The atmosphere was suffocating.

The cloud could not lift under the weight of the heavy loss. Remy was best at getting Rogue to eat with Logan gone, but he was away. Claiming to be searching for something that would help the girl, but he didn't buy it. It was hard to see the state of everything without him, especially. If he could, he would run away, too. But, that wasn't how Logan taught him.

_"Rogue,"_ He struggled to hold his voice even, holding a bowl of cooling soup. "You _can't_ go much longer without eating." He heard a quiet sigh on the other side. Now, Kurt was refusing to come out of_ his_ room. Things had spiraled out of control so fast.

"That's the idea, Scott." He feels a resurgence of anger, anger that she would risk herself after they just lost Logan. Like it wouldn't kill him if he were there. Destroy them all. '_If he were here... This wouldn't be happening.'_ He clutched a fist tight, struggling to find the patience and compassion to hold it together. Hold it together like they all needed.

"I am... Worried about you. We are_ all really_ worried for you, Rogue. Please... I... Don't know what else to say." The tired college student blew on his hair, helplessly. He didn't notice when Kitty appeared beside him, but he frowned at her choice of dress when he noticed. She only huffed, her eyes red and puffy.

"Please, just have Hank put her on a feeding tube, or an IV." She stared sadly at her door nob, not even wanting to go in. "She's gonna-"

_"Stop it."_ Scott hissed, praying she didn't overhear. The only thing Rogue had done was fight with Kitty. "He's..." His face darkened. "He's in her_ head._" The brunette shut her eyes tight, refusing to cry more tears. She couldn't take it. She'd been rotten, lost in her own grief and she hadn't even considered why Rogue just wanted to waste away. She was dealing with grief twice over. "We just, we have to help her, Kitty. Find _some_ way..."

"Oh, ye o'lil_ fait'._" Kitty's eyes actually lit up when she noticed the cajun standing in a trench coat, watching them seriously. He tried not to admire Kitty's questionable dress. "Jean tol' me ya doin' a_ piss poor_ job o'gettin' her to eat." His eyes hardened as Kitty ran into his arms, sobbing. Rogue was only somewhat okay when he was around, and only he got her to keep from starving.

Scott was too relieved to complain, watching as he approached the door. "Need a touch'o voodoo." He explained glumly as he knocked. _"Chére_..." He heard a sniff.

"Go 'way, Rem." He smiled.

"No can do, _chére_. Red summoned me. Y'won't eat, Remy come back. Remember?" She only sniffed again, groaning when he opened her door. He was so handsome and patient, stubble growing thick on his travels. Rogue wished he'd just leave her, already. Laying in a plain black X-Suit, curled around Logan's bomber. He sighed. She'd cried all her makeup off a long time ago, leaving behind a pale, but pretty face_. "Allez mon amour, il est temp mange. Pour lui, chére. Pour lui_." Her lip quivered, the fluent french bringing his personality out. And, he cant resist gumbo.

He pulled out the fragrant takeout, Rogue avoiding his eyes. So hopeful. He hated having to charm her or influence her personalities (like Kitty's so she can sleep), but he would do what he had to. Wolverine had left her, _specifically_, to him. He opened the brothy dish and dipped the spoon in, his eyes kind as he brought it to her lips.

"Why d'ya do dis..." She murmured, his accent taking over her voice. "_Jus'..."_

"You help and protect anyone who need it,_ chére_. Remy take care o'ya." He moved some of her hair out of her face. "Jus' keep eatin', _petite._" Kitty edged in nervously, shocked to see her roommate eating something.

* * *

Remy woke with a start a few hours later after coaxing the girl into a restless sleep, beside him. But, it appeared he was alone as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. Kitty and Rogue were both absent. He wasn't sure exactly what time it was, but in her condition, she shouldn't have been out of his sight. Her mind was all over the place, and who knows what her psyches were saying. He peeled his jacket off and looked around, his anxiety rising.

Stress exasperated her psyches and could lead her to do something drastic. Jean was washing her face when she began to feel Remy's emotions churn. She shrugged one of Scott's flannels around her nightgown and prepared to reach out into the vast mansion.

_'Jean... Did you feel?'_ Charles reached out to her first, his mental voice anxious. He'd barely been unable to rest after his good friend's demise and the state of the school.

_'Yes, I'll check on it. Please, try and get some rest, professor...'_ She felt the sigh in her mind.

_'Yes.'_ Jean focused, realizing she was feeling Remy.

_'Remy? Everything al-'_

_'Where Rogue?'_ He asked, rising and feeling his way through the dark room.

_'She's not in her room?_' He shook his head as though she could see, breaking into the hallway.

_'Non, jus' woke up. She gone.'_ Jean immediately began prying for her teammate's mutant signature.

_'She's blocking me out._' She responded quietly, beginning to worry. Remy was cursing in the hallway, a ruckus that woke Hank. The telepath turned worriedly to her boyfriend, who'd slipped his glasses back on. "Have you... Seen Rogue at all tonight?" He scratched his head.

"She _left_ her room?" Jean nodded, chewing her lip._ 'Kitty? Piotr? Have y'all seen Rogue?'_

"I think something's wrong..." Scott stood, quickly, and tried to think like his teammate. '_Oh god, where would she go, right now?'_ Logan wouldn't even need to smell her, he always just knew her so well.

_'No Jean, what's the matter? Oh my god, is she gone?'_

_'I don't know... She's blocking me, somehow.'_

_'We'll help look, get Kurt.'_

_'Kurt, have you seen your siste-'_

_'No, vhat's the matter? Is everything okay?'_ Jean began rubbing her forehead, the panic in the mansion beginning to surge.

_'She's fine,'_ She thought to herself, feeling ill._ 'She wouldn't... Not after..._' Scott could feel his girlfriend's mood tank. "We have to find her, Scott. We can't..." He placed a hand on her shoulder when things began to shake and levitate.

"We will, Jean. We'll find her..."

* * *

Rogue stood on top of the mansion's roof, hoping she could elude the many mutants. She'd very quietly amassed control of all her abilities, and even with Carol's titanium, Kree DNA she was sure she could get creative. She couldn't bare to live wth the ghost of the person she fully trusted in her head. An entire life of it with no end in sight was too much for her, even as he begged her to reconsider.

_'Stripe, I'm askin you, try to find another way...'_ But, it wasn't him. It only hurt more.

_'If Ah jump and phase, hold my breath and don't stop...'_ The resulting outcome should kill her without leaving a tragic body, a horrible relic like Logan's. _'It's better like this... They...'_ A tear washed down her face as she looked at the vast, dark, lawn. A place that once felt like home. _'Ah'm sorry, Kurt...'_ He taught her not to face things alone, but he _still_ went off to die alone.

_"So, can Ah."_ She whispered, leaning forward with her ams spread._ 'Jus' hold your breath..._' That's how Kitty had always described it to her. A bright light erupted right when she leapt, shooting something across the ground. Right near her._ 'What?'_ Was something attacking the institute, right when she'd decided to kill herself? Either way, it stole her attention. She didn't phase into the ground, she crashed, and was thankful for Ms. Marvel's invulnerability.

She'd definitely made enough noise for others to find her. As the fireball simmered in front of her, she realized she'd have to try again. She pushed herself up slowly, her limbs feeling like lead from lack of rest and taking care of herself. She squinted, her eyes blinded by the bright flames in front of her. It looked like a person had just rocketed into the atmosphere.

She stared, too shocked to move. She watched the body move. Begin to heal devastating burns, grow muscle and skin, anew. Like someone_ else_ she used to know. _'W-What?_' She scrambled back on her hands, her throat too dry to scream. She watched the grizzled and gnarled body rise, his clothes barely hanging to him decently.

She couldn't tell if age and life had weathered his face, or if they were little with scars marking him and telling of his war torn life. His hair was buzzed and white, just like his whiskers. That was the only way she could describe them, just like... She shook as his bones popped back into place, a singed cigarette in his lips. He was shrugged in what looked like a suede and shearling coat, glaring at her with hauntingly familiar eyes.

_"N-No..."_ Was all she could whisper. What was she looking at? He was looking through her, his eyes studying the frivolous, silver streaks in her hair. One he hasn't seen in over fifty years. One it hurt too much to think about. A face he couldn't even dream about anymore, the last thing he expected to see. His brow furrowed, scared to feel happy.

_'Unless...'_ He looked around. Somehow, he'd ended up in front of _another_ institute. In another time. Another Rogue. He watched, uncomfortable, as tears welled in her eyes. If he knew himself, he wouldn't be buying this story easily. He stood up straight, sniffing and then breaking out into a sneer.

_"Skunk."_ He grunted finally, watching with amusement at her red face. "You look like_ shit,_ kid. What's the matter with you? Mardis Gras ain't takin' _care_ of ya?" She was skinny, her skin even more colorless than normal. Bags under her eyes a mile long. She looked like she'd been through worse than he's able to conjure up memories of her looking. But, he'd been utterly broken in his time. Sometimes, things happened. He watched her, with twinkling eyes as she slowly climbed to her feet. He eyed the ground she'd smashed into. "What were you doin', anyways? Don't you know how to_ fly?_"

"Ah..." She didn't finish the thought. Gambit crashed, his eyes glowing like light houses in the night, focused on the strange, gnarled man in front of her. He would ask questions later, swinging wildly at the silver haired man. He was old, much older it seemed than the professor. But, jacked beneath his thick jacket. Remy was arguably one of the fastest and most graceful X-Men, but his staff could not connect.

The old man was not aggressive, but he could not be touched. Finally, his staff connected with his forearm and it rang. As if it were filled with _metal_ instead of bone. He grinned at Remy, his canines glinting in the moon. _'Oh god... Is it...'_ Forge had taught them about other dimensions, and Apocalypse other timelines. But, she was still hesitant to believe. Remy stared, trying to see what she saw.

"C'mon, LeBeau. You're rusty." He'd recognize the growl, anywhere. He jerked back, standing next to Rogue in confusion.

_"Y'You're_..." A squeal interrupted Remy's stuttering as it all fit in his head. Kitty was running, knowing what her eyes saw the moment she saw him. She crashed at his waist without waiting for permission, Piotr watching in the distance. Jean hung back, resisting the urge to link minds with him. No matter how much like Logan he was, he wasn't_ their_ Logan. And, she didn't know if she could handle peering into an alternate time.

The man growled at Kitty's proximity to him. He is haunted by what happened the last time he was near these people he loved, but even he can't let his fear override his desire to be with them. Groaning, he placed a hand on her head. She's younger than he's thought of her in fifty years. "Oh, _twerp_. Can't say I missed you cuddly tykes..." He burned under Rogue's stare, wondering what exactly had her acting so strange.

He snarled when Kurt leaned forward to investigate him in curious disbelief. "Is... Is it... _Really you?_" He snorted, examining the salacious outfit Kitty was wearing beneath Piotr's jacket. This time's version of him was sure slacking, probably off finding himself.

"What do _you_ think?" He bit back, his voice unintentionally hard. The boy's tail swished back and forth, nervously. "...Elf." He added. A chill ran down Rogue's spine. It'd already been so long since she'd heard him say it, in his own voice. Not in her head. She swayed on her feet and Remy caught her, peering into her flushed face with concern.

_"Ça va, chére? Ça va_?" He chased her stare to confirm that she was okay. She nodded, a trembling hand on her head. She was burning under the familiar stranger's eyes. Scott was not as sold as his teammates. This was cruel, and sinister, and with the real Logan gone he had to protect everyone from it. He marched right up to him and yanked on his red t-shirt.

"Who sent you? _Made you? Answer me!_ Sinister? MYSTIQUE?" He bared his teeth, looking around frantically. "What illusion is this? Tell me!" The man's eyes only crinkled at the corners.

"I expected this, Slim. Still as uptight as I trained you to be." The mutant's face crashed. Logan used to call him that when he was a wiry orphan, whose only friends were him and Jean. A name he never told anyone about. He studied him, wondering if he somehow knew him even if they'd just put Logan to rest. He backed away, trying to rationally explain what he was seeing

Ororo shrieked, turning immediately into Hank's arms. She knew her friend when she saw him.

_'Perhaps we should come inside..._' Charles' voice is hopeful for the first time since Logan died.

_'Chuck.._' He bowed his head, solemnly.

_'We have much to discuss.'_


	3. Rolling Stone

The wrinkled man took in a deep breath as the news sunk in. He sat in the strange, yet familiar office. One the other version of him spent a lot of time in. Charles's office. "So," He growled, his voice low and rumbling. "I'm gone, huh?" He feels soft for the sick feeling he gets when he realizes what Rogue intended to do to herself. No doubt, they were close. "I'm sorry, Charles. I wish I was still here to protect you all."

He can see the telepath trying not to get his hopes up, not to scare the tired man away. He does not need to be read for him to know he's been through some horrible things. Things he may be able to help them avoid, or at least deal with. "Where would you go b-" Jean and Scott watched in the corner, silent as they were interacting. There was a weight this Logan carried that the other did not, one that not even theirs had.

_'He's hiding something._' Scott spoke right over to his fiance's head. She frowned.

_'I don't know about that, just that something's happened. Something he... Doesn't want us to see.'_ She tried not to pick up on his conflicted, complicated feelings. It was painful for the ginger haired woman. Logan stood. "Sorry," He rasped. "Long story short, in my time all of the world's heroes were defeated by all of our villains." His face hardens, a solemn promise not to continue further. "Someone who can read minds attacks here..." He turned his back despite Jean's gasp.

He looked down at the clothes they'd loaned him, his old self's. Dark shirt. Worn jeans. Brown jacket. Felt as weird as it did right. But, it was time to go. "They'd be gettin' a lot of dangerous ideas, Chuck. I can't be responsible for that." He looked at the carpet beneath his boots._ 'I'm responsible for enough.'_ He moved towards the door, even as Jean called out.

"Logan, wait-"

"No can do, Jeannie. It has to be this way. Bein' alone is a small price to pay for your safety. Be safe, the world needs you." Charles only hung his head. He'd been afraid of this. '_There won't be any changing his mind. Not right now.'_ The weathered man isn't surprised to see Rogue camped out outside of the professor's door. He can smell her tears, but she's forcing her face to look intimidating. She's shaken, and she doesn't know what to make of him.

He needs to keep her farthest away of all, seeing how his death has already affected her. "Got my eye on you. We ain't_ all_ as gullible as Kitty. And even if you _are_ him, you ar-" She screeched when he reached to the white of her hair and tugged, hard, knowing she was invulnerable. Her screams alerted the attention of Scott, Jean, the professor, Ororo nearby.

"Heavens," The weather goddess exclaimed. "James_ Logan_ Howlett-"

"Let me work, Sunshine. _This one,_" He pulled harder, satisfied to see tears welling in her eyes.

_"Logan,_" Charles admonished.

"Hey, pal." Scott's hand hovered on his glasses.

"This one was tryin' to kill herself, wasn't she? Make herself disappear." The hallway went silent. It was Charles' worst nightmare, something he hoped was just an assumption of the strangely similar man to their friend. "Gotta get inventive with those powers you got? Saw ya bounce right into the turf. What'cha tryna do, phase into the earth?" Rogue looked away from him, hatefully. He was not her friend, her protector. He was someone else. He released her and she stumbled backwards into the wall.

She has half a mind to punch him through the wall, but she doesn't. She just stares, dwarfed in a massive, grey shirt hanging over her X-Suit. "Rogue..." Is all Charles can manage to say. He begins to feel sick to his stomach.

"Oh, child..." Rogue's eyes stung, but she refused to cry. All she'd done was cry, no more.

"He don't know what he's talkin' about." She responded, her voice frigid. Both Scott and Charles pressed their mouths into grim lines. Jean sighed, ushering them both away.

"Logan is our guest and he's made up his mind... Maybe, we could give them a moment." The awkwardness was crushing her mind. Scott sensed her unease and began pushing the telepath in his wheelchair, Ororo reluctantly following along. A million words line up on Rogue's lips, but none come out. The more she thought about it, the more it was too much. Losing Logan, being thrust with a man who's so close but so wrong. Logan would've never taken that tone, grabbed her hair, outed her like that. He was a monster.

"Ah'm not callin' you_ Logan._" She hissed when she'd caught her breath, livid grey eyes hidden behind silver strands. "James.. Whatever. Not that." He sneered at her, baring his teeth.

"Guess what, skunk. It don't matter. I'm not_ stickin'_ around this dump, anyways." Logan hated to see the hurt in her eyes, almost as bad as his last memories of her. Memories he's not even sure he can access, anymore. So horrid and locked away. It would be better, this way. She might be unhappy, she might not understand. But, she'd be okay. "I'm not supposed to be here."

She folded her arms, eyes squeezed tight. "Fine, sure. Do what ya _always_ do, run. Goodbye, James." She looked away, refusing to look in his face as he abandoned her, again. He sighed, pulling her close but with a softer look in his eye.

"I don't remember you bein' such a _damn_ brat. You save the pity party shit for someone else. I come from a time where," He looked away wistfully. "Where, we're all gone. There _is_ no institute. There_ are_ no X-Men." He sees the fear chip away at her hard, brave facade. "The country's split up between Doctor Doom, _Magneto_, the _Hulk_ driven retarded from his own gamma radiation." A black, dark madness spread in his eyes. One Logan's had never possessed, before.

"_Every hero you can you think of, massacred. The Red Skull in the White House,"_ He gripped her arm tight, hearing her gasp as the memories flood him. She didn't even know what he was talking about anymore, frantic babbling from a time long faded away. She sees him start to grapple with his humanity. She's seen a berserk rage, but what she saw now was something _else._

_"Laid on the tracks... Ten times the trains ran me over, and still I'm cursed in this wretched life. You want this wretched juju, a man so tainted he wont even pop these claws..."_ He stalked forward, making even the invulnerable girl nervous. Terrified. Adamantium is the one thing that can shred her. Kill her. And, death was on his eyes.

"L-Logan..."

"Mr. Logan!" Kitty squeaked, dropping her bag of chips as she saw her former instructor battling his rages. He and Rogue may have been closer in life, but she understood his programming and rages, better. "M-Mr. Logan,_ it's okay!"_ He snarled, raising a hand but curiously not flashing his claws. This didn't make Rogue feel any safer. In fact she was mobbed with sweat. Terrified of whatever she saw in his eyes. Despite her screams, Kitty ran between them. "We are your friends Mr. Logan.! You, you don't want to _hurt_ us..."

Just the words make tears leak out of the man's eyes, even if he isn't crying. He wiped at his face, looking sadly a girl he watched grow into a woman. He missed her. He missed them all. He stood, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Half-pint... _Thank you._" He murmured as though he were embarrassed. As if his eyes weren't streaming with tears. Rogue knew that feeling, they were memories he couldn't escape or outrun.

"Stay," Kitty begged, her own eyes watery. "Please. _Don't leave us._"

"This," He panted, casting a look at Rogue. "This is why I have to leave. I'm sorry, Kat." Her face screwed up as he moved past her. "The world needs you, Rogue. All of you. I know that I loved you." She felt her entire body go rigid. She didn't want to hear this, not from a practical stranger. "Whatever I had to do to go and get myself killed, and I know I _had_ to do it. I was sorry, too."

Tears sting Rogue's eyes as he continues down the hallway.


	4. Villains

_"We are your friends Mr. Logan! You, you don't want to hurt us... Why? Why, would you do this? I don't understand..."_

_"This isn't you. It's somebody else. I'll kill you. I'll... Ah'll kill you. Ah'll kill you. Ah hate you, Ah HATE you. Why, you? Why? Tell me! Tell me, why!"  
_

_"No, James."_

_I fought Bullseye for fifty damn minutes. The last of them all. He wouldn't die._

Every time he wanted to return to the institute, even spy from afar, his own memories kept him from doing so. He was dangerous. _Especially,_ around mutant children. He'd learned that the day the heroes died. He couldn't even have a family of his own, and he wouldn't watch history repeat itself. He was going to disappear to Japan, because Canada was not far enough.

He bought his tickets. Packed the meager belongings he'd accrued. He headed to the airport, ready to leave his shitty bike behind. Then he smelled it, right before he reached the airport. Sabretooth. He'd recognize that funk, anywhere. He was so gleeful for his part in the massacre of the world's heroes. Smiling, drenched in blood. Laughing. The Creed he knew.

He traced his scent back to a large, circling perimeter around the institute. He'd been spying. Surveillance. He knew that the real Logan was dead. There was no telling who had that information. He watched, Jean and Scott in the garden. Hank and some of the second string X-Men on the lawn. Without his skill, his abilities, and his senses they were left wide open, even with telepaths.

The power of illusion could fell them all with little effort. The thought makes the old man lightheaded, queasy; Sick, all over again.

He stood in the darkness of his makeshift hut, cobbled together as a shanty on the outskirts of Bayville. He knew what Victor Creed was already doing, he knew what he needed to do. He couldn't let him launch an attack, slaughter the babes. But, as he stood in the pelting rain and stared at his hands, he remembered he was dead. Wolverine was dead. He died that night.

_"Laid on the tracks... Ten times the trains ran me over, and still I'm cursed in this wretched life. You want this wretched juju, a man so tainted he wont even pop these claws..." He remembers the pain like it was yesterday, even if it was half a century ago. He'd never felt anything like it before, or after. He likes to think he nuked his nerves. Pain never felt as good as the tenth train. _

_Over and over. Everyone gone, his mind so shattered he couldn't even think. Just one word. _

_Pain. Over and over. He was in it. He had caused it. He wanted to feel more. More, until he died. If he could die. He'd always worried he'd be cursed to live forever, or far longer than he wanted to. But, he was going to see if he could change that. _

The rain shocks him back to reality, standing in a stained, soaked wife beater. He thinks about the promise he made, what his claws mean. Who Wolverine _is._ Was.

_ "Fine, sure. Do what ya always do, run. Goodbye, James." She looked away, refusing to look in his face as he abandoned her, again. _

He shut his eyes, thunder crashing overhead. All he wanted was peace. A happy family of his own. "No, Rogue's right." He knew what Creed would do, and he knew what he had to. "I won't run away. From who I am _or_ what I've done. I was spat in front of that place for a reason. To make sure what happened to us, _never_ happens again."

* * *

Rogue sat on the porch of the mansion, dwarfed in a massive band sweatshirt, a large chino shirt that used to belong to Logan, and thin leggings. She was tucked into herself, her eyes eyeing the accumulating puddles on the ground. Jean and Scott towered over her. They were both so tall. Logan used to say he kept her and Kitty around because they made _him_ feel tall. She sighed, catching both their attentions.

"We have a recruitment to go on." Jean repeated, patiently. Her hands were folded uncomfortably across her lap.

"She's one of the remaining Morlocks." Scott continued, his face stoic, like it always was. Rogue's face sobered even more. The Morlocks were missing and presumed dead, whatever Logan had seen in the tunnels had changed him, greatly. She would even venture this added to his hastiness to help the clones. The world was only getting crueler for mutants.

"I must go. I was once leader of the Morlocks, this is _my_ responsibility." Storm hung her head, solemnly. Charles was beside her, watching the silver haired mutant with serious eyes. Logan's words had earned her weekly therapy, and an evaluation to make sure he hadn't been correct. These probes were inconclusive, but now the girl had eyes on her.

"I feel it important Hank and I attend as well." He continued, his fingers interlocked. "Only Sara can tell us what happened to the rest of her people." He knew they wouldn't like the answer, but Spyke was among the missing.

"Can you help us, Rogue? Look after the mansion?" Scott tried to smile, hoping it would be infectious for some reason. Her zest for life hadn't really returned since Old Man Logan's departure, but she was still one of the most powerful X-Men. Her skin ate bullets, bats, most things. She just nodded, her eyes glued to the grass beneath her boots.

"Kitty, Piotr, Kurt, and Gambit will stay here as well, since so many administrators are going." Scott continued with all the patience he could muster. He missed Wolverine, and he was starting to miss Rogue.

"Don't need to be babysat," She reminded, angrily. "Won't off myself with a school full of children left in my care." Her eyes drifted upwards, and Scott took it as progress.

"Nobody's saying that. It's to help keep everyone safe." Jean answered, her voice calm and clear as a bell. Scott's brow furrowed.

"The odds are high, what we know about what's going on here,_ others_ know." He surmised, seeing tears well in the girl's eyes. "We need to make sure the school is safe if we go. We've held off as long as we can, Sara needs us." Rogue batted at her eyes with the back of her glove.

"Ah'll make sure, Scott." He nodded his gratitude and rose, hoping he had the nerve to leave. The school had never felt so naked and vulnerable, before. Logan barely slept. Rested, until he was sure the students were safe. Trained. Armed in the face of danger. Now, he was gone.

'_We must carry onward. There's a world out there that needs us.'_ Charles reminded, Ororo turning to wheel his chair to the hangar. _'It's what he would want... No, demand of us.'_

"Be safe. Call us if anything happens." Jean waved as they all filed out of sight, leaving Rogue on the porch. Little did they know they were being watched, waiting for the X-Jet to rise and fly far away.

Kitty wandered outside after a while, watching her roommate stare at the rain. "_There, _you are..." She mumbled, folding her arms as the storm continued. She hated the awkwardness between them since Logan's death, they had more than him in common. "Rahne is anxious. Growling a lot, she thinks something is up." Rogue sighed, creaking to a standing position. She wouldn't be surprised. If word had gotten out that the legendary Wolverine was dead, what was stopping attacks?

Anyone could take her, any student for what they wanted. "Would've expect Creed to visit, by now." She muttered, eyeing the surrounding landscape, wearily. "Who kno-" As if summoned, Sabretooth crashed onto the campus, ignoring the hail of lasers and bullets with a smirk. The bloody bullet holes and burns healed as he sneered at the girls. Logan's favorites.

Before Kitty could speak Rogue grabbed her wrist so tight, she felt the bruise. "There are_ more_ comin'..." Her muddled mass of long sense absorbed abilities told her so. Fear gripped both girls, Logan's words ricocheting in their ears.

_"I come from a time where," He looked away wistfully. "Where, we're all gone. There is no institute. There are no X-Men."_

Before her roommate could move, Rogue shoved her. So hard, she barely phased through the door. "RO-" The silver banged mutant, watched as Creed stalked toward her, his movements unintentionally feline. She hadn't felt like doing much of anything, but it would feel good to take the past couple of weeks out on these assholes.

"Get Peter and Remy, get _all_ the youngsters to the Danger Room." She pulled her sweatshirt over her head, revealing a black, sleeveless X-Suit. She tucked silver hair behind her ear and widened her stance. "Don't come back up." She punched her gloved fist into her palm as Sabretooth picked up his gait. She could hear Kitty screaming unintelligibly, but she didn't care. "Kit, _now!"_ She watched in horror as Sabretooth's claws descended on Rogue in a fury, slicing through her X-Suit.

"ROGUE," Rips and tears revealed pale, alabaster skin. But, no cuts. Ms. Marvel's DNA was not able to be cut by bone claws. Adamantium, maybe. But Adamantium is gone. She glowered at him, unable to remember the last time this had happened. Things had changed, and he was about to find out. Rogue cranked her fist back and knocked Creed across the lawn. He dragged a crater with his body, dirt and earth flying everywhere.

She zipped forward, the wind stinging her eyes as she prepared to continue her assault. But, the professor's half brother launched into her first. An explosion leveled part of the wall to the east. She crashed into a white, stone fountain, sending debris everywhere. She was on her feet quickly, watching as an unidentified blonde made her way across the mansion's lawn._ 'This is a siege...'_ She thought desperately, watching as the Juggernaut slammed his fists against the ground.

"Miss me?" He chuckled as Sabretooth stood beside him. He hasn't forgotten being abandoned at the dam. Rogue's hands jittered with adrenaline.

Inside, Remy strained and struggled in the Russian's grip, desperate to break free to the lawn and help Rogue._ "Diable_, lemme go!" He twisted against the hulking man, but it was no use. Not even Rogue with her powers could take the Juggernaut _and_ Sabretooth. And, he knew the Marauders. Sinister. They knew Wolverine was dead and they were coming to defeat them once and for all. "Ah gotta _help_ her!"

"Gambit, her skin _stronger_ than Piotr's. And, she has some of Logan's healing factor. She will fare better out there than you. You must hang back, protect the young ones." He turned towards his girlfriend. "You_ too_, Katya." She groaned when his skin turned to metal, shining in the light. "I shall assist Rogue." Before the girl could protest he stomped outside, rushing to Rogue's aid.

She had one hand locked with Cain's, deadlocked by both of their super-strength. Creed was pushing from the other side, the mutant grunting under the strain. Piotr slammed into the fray, separating the two from his teammate. "Are these the o-" Piotr screamed, a mental assault getting past even is metal skin. He fell to his knees, horrid images of the X-Men betraying him filling his mind.

Kitty, pointing a gun at him, her eyes dead. "K-Katya... No, _please._.." The telepath must've compromised her mind, somehow. Rogue watched as Piotr began running and screaming, swatting reluctantly at an invisible foe_. 'A telepath,'_ Rogue thought, her heart sinking. That was one thing she couldn't defend against. Before she could move, everything changed around her.

"NO!" She screamed out hoarsely, falling to her knees. "Ah've got to... _Fight it.._." Her fishnet gloved hands grabbed fistfuls of grass as she ground her teeth, doing everything she could to fight the mental control. Everything the professor and Logan had taught her came down to this moment._ 'No... Please...'_ When she saw Remy about to open the door to get to her, she hexed it with her remaining free will.

_"Anna Marie-"_

_'Protect the Danger Room, Remy. Until they get home.'_

_'Don't-'_ Rogue shut her eyes, and when she opened them she was in a strange lab. In disarray. On fire. She rose, her body no longer her own. She typed in the commands on a console as people fled, hearing a familiar voice below.

_"Stripe... Please." Her heart stopped. It was his voice. Logan's. Her Logan. He was chained below, staring up at her with black eyes. "Rogue, if you can fight right now, I need you to." She shook her head tears falling past shut eyes. 'This isn't happening... This isn't real.' She took a shuddering breath and tried to speak._

_"L-Lo..." Her mind was crushed under suggestion, forcing her to move the gun. 'No... Ah won't...' "A-Ah can't stop..." She trembled, moving a nozzle close to Logan's face, one she was certain would pour piping hot adamantium onto it. 'No, god. Please.' He looked in her eyes, forgiveness already in them as she tried to resist the control. "Logan, Ah'm-"_

_"It's okay, Stripe. You know I know. Hey, it's gonna be alright." She screamed as an automated voice sounded._

_"Sequence, activated." She looked around in horror._

_"NO," He held her gaze firmly, even as he stared death in the face._

_"Hey. Roll tide, Rogue." The liquid began to flow from the needle. "These are the breaks."_

"NO!" She collapsed to the ground, her screams echoing all over New York. She banged her head against the ground, desperate to erase the images from her head. "_No please, Ah'm sorry... Ah'm sorry... Ah didn't..."_ She gasped, hugging her ribs tight as the platinum blonde psychic looked down at her._ "No, please. Ah didn't mean to, Ah didn't..."_

"She was _especiall_y easy to manipulate, sad little one she is. Let the illusion break her." The psychic waved her hand, dismissively. She glanced at perfect, manicured nails while Cain and Creed looked on. "This is all too easy, do you think Nathaniel will even be _impressed?_" Rogue whimpered at her feet.

"Quiet, Regan." Creed snarled, watching Rogue writhe and cry on the ground. If only her skin were normal, he'd slaughter her then and there. He reached down with a filthy hand and carefully grabbed her face, her hair keeping him from being absorbed. She was annoying. He grunted in her face, sneering. "Turn her brain into mush, Mastermind. My only regret is that_ Logan_ ain't here to see-"

A blinding flash erupted past the mansion's security. His claws sailed right through Regan's warm, soft shoulder. Her blood erupted, and her hold on Rogue ceased. She cried out weakly from the ground, struggling to catch her breath as she sobbed. It was all so real. His voice. His face. Looking into her eyes. She choked on a breath and Logan frowned. "It's alright, honey." A soft voice came from above. Familiar. So familiar. But, different. "Ain't none of it real."

He was staring into Regan's shocked, wide eyes as he ripped his claws from her shoulder. When her brain caught up, she shrieked in his face. Rogue jerked as he grabbed her, pulling her away from both the Juggernaut and Sabretooth's hands. Rogue studied the silver whiskers on leathery, sun-tanned skin, the snarl on his face so like her mentor's. The psychic collapsed on the ground, trying to put Logan in the worst illusion she could conjure.

Nothing happened. He smirked down at her. "Do _something,_ you moron!" Juggernaut screamed. Logan was supposed to be dead.

"Don't you think I'm fucking trying," The telepath screamed back. She glared hatefully at the white haired stranger. "What _are_ you?"

"Well, _wha'dya know?_ They must've fried my brain so bad I can't be put under suggestion, anymore. Or, you're just a shit telepath, doll." Her face flushed red as she clutched her shoulder, the clawed man towering over her. "You feel up to joinin' me, skunk?" He'd certainly never called her_ skunk_ before, but the nickname wasn't rubbing her so wrong.

_"Love_ to." She held two fists in front of her. But, an explosion rocked the campus before the fighting resumed. Sailing from the institute's roof was none other than Mystique, fitted in tight, black clothing. Logan can't suppress his growl as she fires another blast, one that sends even Cain staggering back. Rogue had questions: why was her former mother there? How did she know this was happening? Where did she get such a big gun?

"You," Logan's voice is low and dangerous. She's staring at him in disbelief. He was dead. He died. And now, he was old? "You_ knew_ about this?"

"I know about _everything_." She spat, her eyes lingering on her pale daughter. "I came to protect my children." Her stare lingered on the behemoth mutant and her associate, Creed. "These oafs could not be trusted to remember to keep them safe."

Cain glared at Rogue, hidden behind Logan's gnarled, broad shoulders. "I don't remember any special instructions." It had been the skunk who drained him and led to his defeat years ago, he hadn't forgotten.

"Real mother of the year, Mystique. Fire another damn blast, I'm tired." Rogue eyes the blood trailing from his knuckles. Logan's had never bled, not like this. He really must've not released them for years. The shapeshifter eyed him strangely before turning back to the fellow Marauders.

"Nathaniel did not authorize this, and as you see..." She eyed Creed in annoyance. "Your _intel_ was wrong. I don't know how, but Logan is right there." Sabretooth growled to himself.

"He_ is_ dead, this is-"

"This is bogus." Juggernaut growled, beginning to lose interest. He was promised the slaughter of his brother's children, not this. When the winds picked up and the skies grew dark, they all knew it was time to retreat. Mystique knew the feeling, anywhere._ 'Weather witch_.' Thunder shook the ground beneath them, lightning striking the grass.

"Go from here, we are not in the mood." The lightning illuminated her glowing eyes and shining, snowy hair. More thunder sounded, the winds whipping Sabretooth's long, stringy strands. "I _will_ not say it again." The winds began to push Cain, holding a huge arm up to block them.

"This bitch," A red, optic blast shot into the clearing, knocking the behemoth's helmet clean off. Jean followed overhead, focusing to sedate his mind before he caused anymore damage. The lawn would need weeks to fix, already. Logan used to work tirelessly on home projects. He bellowed, feeling the intrusion of both Charles and Jean in his mind. "No, No..._ Stay out of there!"_ Mystique groaned as Sabretooth grudgingly lifted Regan into his arms.

"Now, Blink. _Hurry._.." The blue woman called into her communicator. In a burst of pink and purple fireworks, the petite, short haired mutant appeared in the sky. Just with the Marauders in her sight, they were transported somewhere else. Logan retracted his claws the minute they disappeared, his hands shaking. He can't believe he used them, but as he looked at Rogue, he's glad they did.

She's standing close, shaking. As white as a sheet, a gloved hand hovering on his bicep while the others approach in wonder.

"What_ happened,_ Rogue, are you alright?" Scott studied his teammate, surprisingly relieved this strange Logan had returned. His claws were as good as the old Logan's. Jean's brow is furrowed, doubled over completely to examine the pale girl's face. She looks spent, but her eyes are hopeful. Anchored on a new, old friend.

"Give her some space, red." Logan grunted, pawing at his pockets for cigarettes. Kitty, Kurt, and Remy shot onto the lawn as well, crowding the older man to his annoyance.

_"Chére?_ Everythin' alright?" Red and black eyes pried the horizon for more enemies. They'd all appeared so suddenly, he'd felt awful stuck inside while she fought. When he took the girl's head into his hands and peered in her face, Logan twisted an arm behind his back. He had lingering memories of the boy making her cry. Silly things, things he didn't care to watch repeat. Remy hissed in pain while Kitty quickly phased his arm through the iron grip.

_"E-Easy,_ Mr. Logan. I know _I l_ook young, but Rogue's like, twenty." She cautioned him with a tiny hand. He grunted, holding the cajun's stare until Rogue placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't like PDA." He snarled, sending a chill down the New Orleans native's spine. It wasn't the playful ribbing of the Logan past. "She's younger than I remember her in'a_ long_ time." Rogue sobered at the thought that she'd never gotten to grow and get older with Logan, maybe _that_ Rogue did. Remy backed off quickly, his hands help up. He didn't feel like getting into it.

"Right," Was all he mumbled, rubbing his wrist. Charles can't help but smile as Hank and Ororo wheeled him over.

"Well, we are certainly lucky you showed up here." Is all he says, hands folded together. He examined the school's lawn for a long moment. "It didn't take us long to recruit Sara, but long enough, it seems. We are indebted to you, Logan." The salt haired man grunted while he stroked his chin, studying him.

"Was about to get the hell outta dodge when I caught his stench, circling the campus. Knew he'd been spyin', knew what he'd do. If it's one thing I know, it's _Creed._ Joan Jet, over here was lookin' rusty. Good thing I doubled back." His dark eyes were shut. Rogue was pouting now, officially finding Old Logan's nicknames corny in comparison to the other one's.

_"Oh? That_ why ya tagged me in? You're the one_ still_ healin' some o'those cuts. You're lookin' a little washed up, _Wolverine_." He growled at the name, but she didn't back down, no longer fear in her grey eyes. Kurt and Kitty looked between them, a bit thrown by their dynamic. This Wolverine was not really like the other. And, Rogue didn't interact with him the same.

"Okay, so... Progress." Kitty commented, smiling sheepishly as they broke their stare. Kurt scratched his head.

"Are... You sure about that?"

"Old friend..." Henry sighed, marveling at his likeness. Logan didn't age, but if he did, this was what he'd be like.

"Don't make us ask again, Logan." He frowned at the serious look on Ororo's face. Sad. Tired. He groaned, seeing Kitty and Kurt both looking at him with their arms clasped. Even Jean seemed to be puppy-dog eyeing him.

"Well? What will you do, Logan?" He rolled his eyes, chewing the cigarette on his lips.

"Judgin' from how _puny_ you all got, it would be a _crime_ to abandon ya. God, Chuck. What have you been up to, here? Yoga Danger Room sessions?" The psychic's face broke out into a wide smile. The greying man turned his piercing stare back on Rogue.

_"You?_ Kitty looks bigger than you. You got five am Danger Room sessions with me for the foreseeable future. Want me to stay, now?" The narrow girl placed her hands on her hips, her cheeks glowing red.

"Joke's on _you_, yahoo. Ah never sleep." Rogue grinned triumphantly. He didn't know her, not her specifically. He was about to find out that even if there were multiple Rogue's, she was one of a kind. Scott sighed as Logan folded his arms, glowering at the obstinate girl in front of him. If she thought she was more hard-headed than him, she was wrong.

"That so? Well, I'll have you so tired you _wish_ you didn't have five am sessions. Enjoy your last night of peace." He lit another cigarette, glaring at the girls with black eyes.

"Ah'm not scared, Ah survived the other Logan's courses. Ah'll survive_ yours._" She leaned forward, her shoulders as broad as she could make them. It was certainly the most passively she'd mentioned Logan being gone. Everyone watched in surprise.

"Why do I have a feeling the mansion's about to get real noisy, again." Scott wondered, planting himself beside his girlfriend. She only chuckled and leaned in close to him.

"Beats the quiet, Scott."


	5. Perspective

Logan eyed the white banged girl, clad in a tight black t-shirt and black and white, camo pants. He had expected a gi for them to train and spar in, but what did he know? This version of him might not know karate, much less have taught any of them. This Rogue was different. His had been vulnerable, impressionable, almost crushed by Mystique's manipulation and encounter with Carol Danvers.

He took her under him, looked out for her just like he'd come to look out for Kitty. And, Jubilee. All of them. He taught her everything she knew. Helped make her the woman she became. The X-Men leader of her own team. A fighter. One who went down fighting, until the very end. His confidante. One who never shamed him or blamed him for his feelings for Jean. Who always took his side, even against Remy.

This Rogue was still young, and in her stare he saw that she'd seen things. Been through things. Things he'd learn about, over time. Her eyes were grey, not green. Like they were almost sucked of all their saturation. And, even if she had her fated powers, she was scrawny. Rogue hadn't been this lean since she was a mere child. A wayward brat fresh from Mystique. He would do what he could to toughen them all up, lord knows they'd need to with him around.

He eyed her, his brown jacket flapping in the wind. He watched as she put her hair in stubby ponytail, stretching as the sun began rising. She really didn't sleep, but neither did he. "Army clothes?" He'd been eyeing the dog tags tucked around her neck, but he didn't have to guess whose they were. "Where'd you even get those?" S.H.I.E.L.D and the military weren't necessarily fans of the X-Men.

Her face became sensitive, her dark makeup scrawled on even before dawn. "_You_." The wind blew between them, and he began to wonder about his other self. Was he a good man? Better than him. He studied her lanky limbs before motioning to himself.

"Alright. Show me what y-" Before he'd finished speaking she flew forward, knocking into him with a fist. His body was sent dragging through the grass as she hovered, waiting for him to launch himself. He lifted himself from the crater, frowning. "Damn kids," His hissed, dusting dirt and grass off of himself. "I didn't _mean_ your strength, Rogue. Can't do much with that." His scrapes healed as she looked at him, sheepishly. "Meant your claws..." His eyes softened. "You... Touched me, haven't ya?"

She nodded, her hands gripped tight. She hadn't thought about popping claws, lately. "I can actually give you some perspective on those." He tried not to make his stare weary, picking grass from a grey t-shirt. "Never settled on a name to call my ancient ass."

She rubbed her arm awkwardly, wincing as she daintily revealed her claws of bone. "Oh, Ah dunno,_ Pops_..." He recoiled. He was old, but he was nobody's grandpa. He never got that far.

"Definitely, not that. Don't got no pups runnin' around." His face hardened, suddenly._ 'Not anymore.'_ His shot out, shooting a spray of blood over the lawn. Rogue swallowed, hard. The sun reflected off his silver hair. "First things first, you don't show these unless you're ready to kill. _Willin'_ to kill." She held his eyes and knew he'd killed others. Probably, many. Some she can tell he regrets.

She nodded, her Logan had told her the same thing. "Second, your control is in your wrist. How you hold it,_ twist_ it... That's the difference between maiming and killing. And if you pull these out, _you kill_. You leave the rest, to me." She nodded, her hands trembling slightly. "Now, strike." He barked. She obeyed and he grabbed her wrist, twisting it. "Like_ this_." He growled, and she understood. "Again."

Soon, the sun had risen high over head. She'd lost her ponytail holder long ago, and Logan was amused by the wild, natural curl of her hair from perspiration. "Alright. Go. Run a standard course in the Danger Room. Ya need some meat on your bones." She growled back, rifling a hand on her short hair.

"Sure you're not tryna _fatten_ me and Kitty up like that witch... What was it?" She glowered in his direction. "Hansel & Gretel? My body is on trend, right now." She dusted at the pants the old Logan had gifted her. He only snorted in seeming disapproval.

"Don't help the X-Men none, now shoo." Rogue moved to hover away when he grabbed her arm and yanked her back with surprising force, considering her super strength and speed abilities. _"Wait,_" He rasped, claws revealed. Rogue's head twisted, but he moved in front of her. "Somethin'... Somethin' ain't right. I..." He sniffed in an animated fashion, only getting more confused. "I smell, a _me?_ But, it's wrong, somehow..."

_'Maybe he didn't get cloned where he's from...'_ In the few days Old Logan had landed there, he hadn't told her much about his time. And, it didn't seem he would anytime soon. She could see the panic rising on his face, so she gripped a gnarled wrist. Rogue had been dreading this moment, Laura had taken off when the news of Logan's demise made the institute.

_"Rogue... Please..." Scott's voice was slightly muffled by the door to her room, barricaded with furniture. The news was slowly rolling over the institute, and it was only getting worse. "Please. It's Laura. Piotr's skin can't hold up much long-" _

_"ROGUE," Kitty sobbed, outside. "Help us!" Scott ushered the frenzied, smaller girl back when they heard furniture thump around inside the room. The door bounced on the hinges, a practically colorless Rogue standing in front of them. She looked like a ghost as she stared at them, her face twisted into a snarl. "She's... She's in the hang-" The both jumped when she teleported away. This manic Rogue had control of her abilities. _

_She appeared to Laura snarling, only a plank of wood protecting Piotr from being pierced. Laura's eyes were black, she was in the middle of a beserker rage. There was no communicating with her, right now. Only luck and good training spared the Russian, and he was running out. Rogue only shut her eyes, tears marching down her face. Laura dropped, her eyes bulging out of her head. _

_"No... NO. Stop, stop it! Get out! GET OUT OF MY HEAD." She looked at Rogue in complete horror and disgust. Her body might've been plated in adamantium, but the child's skull was not. "NO. MAKE IT STOP. STOP IT." Jean, Kitty, and Scott all stood behind the opened door to the hangar, watching as Piotr awkwardly tried to comfort he Weapon X project. _

_"W-What's she doing?" Kitty screamed. Jean chewed her lip. _

_"She's... She's projecting the Logan's voice... In her head." Kitty's eyes welled with tears, again. It seemed as effective as it was tragic. When Rogue stopped, the younger mutant shot to her feet, panting. Without a word she sliced through the doors and into the night, knowing nobody there had the skills to track her. _

_"Rogue..." Jean tries to say. _

_"Come inside, it's cold." Kitty pleaded, wiping her face with the back of her arm. _

_"Hank hasn't gotten a chance to look a-" With a puff of smoke and sulfur, she disappeared. _

Laura had been gone ever since, stalking the premises but refusing to return. Until now. She smelled him. Rogue watched several different emotions pass through his eyes, and she can't imagine what it's like. Being displaced in time. Surrounded by familiar strangers. Friends you don't _actually_ know. He sees her sobering look and growls when he takes it for pity. They'd have more problems to be sad about if this world's villains ever united.

"One question, I guess." His eyes were anchored on the horizon, something Rogue couldn't see. "She trust me?" The stripe haired girl nodded, slowly.

"More than anything." He nodded back, placing an awkward hand on her head.

"Go run an' exercise course in the Danger Room and fix somethin' to eat. We got some catchin' up to do." Rogue obeyed, hovering off slowly as Laura crept onto the mansion's lawn, knowing where every turret and weapon lay. Logan watched and was impressed for the first time since coming there. Her precision was unparalleled. Bred, from his instinct. Her calm.

He saw himself in her face, cold calculating eyes. Even the jaw. But, at least they picked a pretty mother. If he knows Weapon X, he can almost bet she's not alive. She's tan and broad shouldered, with dark hair that's too long. Her sharp mind has already put together what was happening. Her ancestor was very dead, this was a Logan displaced in time.

Still, he saw hope in her eyes as she approached him. Maybe, he knew her. "Darlin', I'm not the man you knew." Her expression didn't change. "But, I will be responsible for you, the same." Pack, he left off, but knew she understood. After a long moment, she nodded. Few of words, he liked her already. She understood that a lot times, words weren't needed.

* * *

When he wandered back into the mansion to see Kurt chasing after Tabitha, and Jean laying out on an ottoman, seemingly sunning. Every version of her loved the sun. The heat. Fire. She was born from it, made in it. In this life, and the next. God, he loved her. He almost ended the team, ended the _world_ over her. Rogue and Jubilee never blamed him, for that. Before the others, his claws ran through her. Because it was that, or the world. And, he almost didn't choose.

His instincts tell him to stay away. He loves her, he killed her. But, his feet won't move as she smiled at him. She was more of a woman than Rogue and Kitty, but not by much. Still does nothing for the chemistry between them, even as he stands a hobbled, old version of himself. "_Logan."_ It isn't hard for her to call him that, not like the others.

His smile is uncharacteristically warm as he moved slightly closer. "Lucille." She chuckled.

"You only show your age with your nicknames. They're just as fun, though." Her smile is a little sad, but he pretends not to notice. He bowed, awkwardly as she tried not to study him. "I feel you, y'know. Wherever you go. There's this... _Emotional density_, that follows you everywhere." He tried not to see how adult she looked in the short, X-Shirt she was wearing.

He knew where this was going, ever the helper. "Red..."

"I just want to _help,_ Logan. Especially if I'm going to be subjected to sensing it." Her eyes hardened, slightly. Just as stubborn as he remembered. This was how he fell for the girl.

"My apologies... But what's in my head, ain't for you to see. Not you, and not Chuck." She deflated. He was just as stubborn and determined to deal with things alone as their Logan.

"We... Could handle it. Even if I couldn't, _he_-"

"You're always sellin' me somethin' I want to, but _can't_ take." Not sure what he meant, she looked into to tired, dark eyes. He clasped her hand in his rough one, before pulling away. Jean watched, but she didn't follow.

"Always an enigma..."

His wandering led him back down near the Danger Room. It tended to be quieter, down there. He spied Rogue asleep on a couch in the lobby of the basement. She was draped in a jacket that smelled of her brother, but her brow was furrowed. Twitching. She was having a nightmare. He frowned, all the memories locked in her head, it was no wonder.

He wouldn't speak about the things that kept him up at night.

_Every time he closed his eyes, he saw them. Her eyes. Staring at him so hatefully. Worse than she looked at Mystique, Apocalypse. "Ah hate you." Looking at him like if it was the last thing she did, she'd kill him. "Ah'll kill you..." _

He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, but he was hesitant. These hands hurt. These hands_ kill_. "Darlin," He mostly whispers. "Skunk." He follows after feeling soft. "You're dreamin'." She groaned and slowly at up, her eyes adjusting to the bright lights of the basement.

"Insomnia rule number one, Ah sleep better at any time that _isn't_ night, and anythin' that _ain't_ my bed." He chuckled at that, knowing all too well.

"Yeah, yeah. If you can't sleep, go hang out with someone." He had gotten a distinct, anti-social vibe from this Rogue. He was used to the angst, some moodiness concerning her powers and predicament. Legitimate fears of hurting others. But, she spent her time with her cobbled together family. The X-Men. Even this Rogue seemed to avoid Remy, crawling from the treetops only to spar with him. The last thing she needed was to isolate, it only ever ended badly for his teammate. "Your brother, Jean. Kit. Might as well."

He knew his recent death still stung the girl, he smelled it all over her. She only scoffed. "Cain'_t force_ someone to be social." She answered, haughtily. Like him, she didn't necessarily classify the bond they shared as 'socializing'. He leaned back, glowering in the girl's face.

"Watch me,"

"Schwester! There you are!" Kitty and Kurt slipped through a wall together, a bowl of popcorn in their hands.

"Oh, hey!" She was wearing an obnoxious, pink track suit that had words on the butt she couldn't read. Kurt had dug up a Bayville sweatshirt, like their tenure at the school had been pleasant. "We made popcorn and it's movie night! Kurt's picking both Kill Bill's... You love blood, at least... You_ used_ to. Its been forever since we hung out," She reached out to the pale girl.

Rogue only recoiled in disgust. "_Please,"_ Her brother pressed, his tail swishing. When she groaned, Logan shoved her forward. She sent him a dark look when she crashed into her brother.

"Go'on. _Git._" He barked. Rogue huffed before grabbing a handful of slightly burnt popcorn.

"How'd you burn the popcorn, Kitty?" Tears instantly sprang to the shorter girl's eyes. Kurt sighed in an animated fashion.

"Here ve go..." Only Logan dared defend her cooking, because with his healing factor, he'd survive it.

_"I did not_, Rogue. M-Mr. Logan..." Kitty was already wiping at her eyes as he stood.

"Nu uh,_ no way_. Not gettin' involved." He left a trail of smoke down the hallway as they began arguing.


	6. Purify

This Logan never came into the Danger Room sessions. He never wore a uniform. He wasn't an X-Man, he was just here to protect them. He was very adamant about this. He was _not_ Wolverine, like his other self. He was only Logan. He would observe, sometimes. And, give tips if it looked needed. Scoldings. Insults. Tongue lashings. Scott began to notice a distinct distance placed between him and all of them, besides Rogue and others that weren't as seemingly vulnerable.

He was on to him, his never ending quest for truth making it impossible not to think about. Something was off about Logan, more off than usual. "Doesn't _anyone_ want to know... What exactly happened in the future?" He looked up and around at his teammates, a leather jacket shrugged over his old uniform. He was kicked against the wall, forehead rippled in knots.

"Not really." Bobby answered, nervously. He wasn't a believer in meddling with things they didn't understand. "I try not to think about the fact that there _are_ multiple different timelines, and we've probably affected them..." He rubbed his head. It was still a lot to think about Apocalypse and some of the foes they'd faced. "W-What if it ruins everything? Self fulfilling prophecies..." He caught Amara and Jubilee's stares.

"I dunno," Kurt ventured, quietly. He found it a little disturbing that he wouldn't share anything, not even with the professor. He felt bad for it, and he didn't know why it made him uneasy. Just that something kind of did. He knew the girls had blindspots for Logan. Scott knew so, as well. He felt it was his duty to be more objective.

"I just... I wonder _why_ he doesn't talk about it. How better can we prepare for the future than knowing it? It just..." His gaze floated upwards, to where the silver Wolverine stood, glaring silently at them._ 'He's hiding something.'_ Jean sighed, sensing that it was far more complicated than he perceived it. They lived in a world of mutants and superpowers, but he was a little black and white.

"It's _hard_ for him, Scott." She reasoned, wondering what he couldn't even tell her. "Even before what happened, he was never good at expressing his emotions..." She empathized for his quiet struggle, whatever it was. She saw real pain in his eyes, every time she looked. She felt it.

"Yeah, lay off. You don't know what he's been through. You can't force it out of people." Kitty joined in crossly, just as he suspected. Next would be...

"If Ah learned anythin', it's that... Maybe, the future should just be left alone." Even Jean had expected her to jump more to the man's defense. He was not their old Logan, but he was imprinting on her in a different way. "My mother..." Kurt leaned in intently when he realized his sibling intended to share. Share something personal. "Irene has _always_ had visions. And, like it or not... Every stupid thing Mystique did, it was because of them." Scott clenched his jaw. "Not an excuse, but that's an example of dealin' with the future, Scott. He's not hidin' anything." Her pensive stare landed on the ground.

She looked up where he was still watching over all of them. "He's protectin' us." She finished, filing towards the door. It was from what, nobody could be sure.

* * *

"You'll... You'll _really_ let us try it?" He chuckled, wondering what the other version of him was like. He was an idol, worshipped around the school. But, they all saw something in him. Something different, and something they needed. He eyed Kitty's frivolous ponytail as Kurt studied him. They were sitting on the porch with the weathered man as he smoked a cigar, changing leaves fluttering around them. Kitty's cream colored, cashmere seater ruffled in the wind.

His dark eyes roved the horizon, but everything seemed fine. "Sure. Your funeral..." He muttered, more to himself than to the two young people beside him. They were all so similar and different at the same time. These X-Men were still very young, and they already knew him. He was coming to care for them all in his own way, even if it didn't seem it to some. _'Best thing I can do for them is not get too close, don't let myself become a weapon...'_

Kurt watched incredulously as Kitty held the thick, smoking item in her hand. She looked to her teammate, but he shook his head.

"Oh_ no_, ladies first..." He waved his hands, studying the greyed Wolverine. Kitty rolled her eyes and took a steady drag, erupting into a violent cough. Logan chuckled as she hacked, a hand delicately on her chest.

"Watch it, there. _Sandy_." He barked out a rough laugh as the younger mutants watched. She glowered at him, her eyes watering.

"Ugh, god._ Why_ did you let me..." He growled at her out of habit.

"Cause ya _asked_, small stuff." He shot Kurt an intimidating look. _"You_ still want to try?" Kurt eyed Kitty, still clearing her throat.

"N-No, sir. That's okay..." He laughed sheepishly as Kitty pouted. He shoved his hands in his black, sweatshirt pockets. Logan brought the cigar back to his lips and took a satisfied drag. He eyed a squirrel running across the grass, the defense system knowing better than to target the animal.

"That's what I thought." He rose, tossing a look inside the mansion. "C'mon, isn't it time to get some grub?" He looked at the position of the sun in the sky, setting earlier everyday. Kitty's face perked up and Kurt slapped his face.

"Oh brother,_ here_ ve go." There was a mischievous sparkle in the girl's eye that made him groan. "Pretty sure_ Storm i_s making dinner, tonight..." It was a gift to the entire mansion when the woman cooked, not only was she a natural chef but she always got everyone's crazy food specifics right. Kitty's dinners, not so much. The slender girl placed two hands on the wild man's arms and grinned, despite the scowl on his face.

"Well, I can make a snack for you, Mr. Logan. If you want?" He pried her hands off of him.

"Gee, _thanks_ kit-kat. I wanna make it til' dinner, though." He pushed both of the younger mutants towards the door, eyeing the campus wearily. How did he relax in a mansion filled with children? He felt a heart attack might be the thing to take him, especially with him around. Tiny, soft creatures it made his flesh crawl to be near. He promised himself things, but love would make him break them. He looked up to see Rogue and Piotr approaching, looking apprehensive.

He double took Rogue, her all black outfit resembling some sort of secret agent suit. It was only tight, black pleathery plants and a black long sleeve. If the girl was anything, she was consistent. Her face was painted dark as well. The old man still hadn't gotten used to it. The well built Russian was wearing a dark blue muscle shirt that lived up to the name. They both seemed nervous. He examined as they stopped in front of him, looking around.

"Logan. You are here." Piotr tries to smile. "We are having... _Malfunction_ in the War Room." He smiled genuinely in Kitty's direction, only making the silver haired man growl. She might as well have curled her hair, making her roommate roll her eyes. "It is reporting that we are in danger." Logan stepped protectively in front of the slender X-Men. Just because he hadn't sensed it or they couldn't see it, didn't mean they were safe. Not, by a long shot.

_"What's today, kit-kat?" Logan folded his arms and watched the multiple monitors. He had never seen such a busy news day._

_"April eleventh. Nothing out of the ordinary..." She called to him, watching the massive computer screen._

_"I'm gonna do another lap, Wolverine." The scrappy, painfully southern mutant with the skunky bangs announced. Her X-Suit was dark green and she was pulling a cropped jacket on, over it. There were over 40 distress signals and counting, all pouring into the mansion. Logan had never seen anything like it, not even during Apocalypse. The X-Men were not allies of the Avengers, but their silence and lack of presence had his heart hammering. 'What causes all of this..' _

_Kitty was typing furiously, trying to make sense of their technology. Nothing like this had ever happened before. Scott, the professor, Storm, and Jean were all away on a faraway recruitment mission. And, they weren't answering, either. "Rogue," The Canadian starts. Neither girl has ever seen him so anxious, before. _

_"If they pull up here, it's their funeral! You two need to protect the students." She punched a palm with a fist. "Ya know, Ah'll be fine." She had long since battled Carol Danvers and stolen her super strength and invulnerability. She did a lot of heavy lifting at the institute. He felt it in his adamantium bones, frowning at Rogue and Kitty. This was big. Nothing like this had ever happened, before. He wasn't willing to bet either of their lives, or anyone else's. _

_"Quick, Marie. Just see if there's somethin' fishy." She nodded, shooting off like a bullet._

_No sooner had she left did an explosion sound. He grabbed Kitty and used his body to shield the blast. _

Logan rubbed his head, memories of his own, abandoned time haunting him. His fingers itched to slash, hurt. Anything to take his mind off of them. _'No... What if...'_ Anyone could've peered into his mind. Figuring out his secret. How the villains defeated all the heroes in his world. His claws shot out and Piotr paled, wishing Kitty wasn't standing so close to the man. Sweat dripped down his tanned brow, his eyebrows twitching.

Kurt watched in confusion. "M-Mr. Logan?" Kitty tried. Rogue watched him, seriously.

_"Pops_..." Rogue ventured, quietly. He either secretly liked the nickname, or he had grown tired of telling her to pick something else. She watched him battle his own mind, something she was all too familiar, with.

"Kitty," He growled, making Piotr exhale loudly. "Tell me, _now._ What's today?" Kurt, Rogue, and Piotr exchanged glances, but Kitty held Logan's stare. Strong, blue eyes.

"Not April eleventh." She answered, as confused as she was sure she needed to say it. They watched the rage melt out of his eyes, and slowly he returned to normal. "It's okay..." He wouldn't elaborate on what that meant, or why. And, he wouldn't answer any questions. Just that it was important, and he was counting on her. His breaths slowly returned to normal.

"Right." He cleared his throat, meeting Rogue's frozen stare. "Thanks. What were y'all sayin'... Somethin' 'bout a War Room?" He scrubbed a hand over a weathered face. Rogue planted her combat boots closer to the man.

"Right. It's goin' off, detecting a danger in the area. But, did you see anythin'? It could just need to be recalibrated, again. Someone mighta been_ slackin'."_ Rogue's stare focused on her roommate, who was sticking her tongue out. Piotr only twiddled his fingers, hoping Logan doesn't realize she loafed on her chores to hang out with_ him,_ sometimes.

"Ugh! _Not_ true!" She cast a disconcerted look upwards. "It actually doesn't act like this, normally..." Logan was beginning to get nervous. Not only did he not see anything, he didn't smell anything. He wasn't all the way convinced he wasn't trapped in an illusion. Gambit slid behind Rogue in a fluid motion, his brow wrinkled in concern.

_"Chére_, de War Room..." He reported, red and black eyes looking around. He was feeling froggy, and he didn't like it. Especially with so many on a mission. Something was afoot.

"Ah know, Piotr and Ah came to check everythin' out." He wrapped an arm around her waist, carefully as to not to alert the attention of the older man. "But... It seems li-" An explosion interrupted her sentence. The cajun mutant grabbed his girlfriend, despite her invulnerability, and tugged her to safety. Logan hooked a large arm around Kurt and wrenched, the Russian pulling Katherine along.

Kurt shook, yellow eyes prying for another intruder on their home. Hollow, course laughter sounded as smoke and debris settled. Kitty whimpered as Rogue shot to her feet, dust and plaster flying off. Logan was looking at his knuckles, contemplating using claws, again. Piotr became one seamless piece of iron, his brow furrowed. Fortune did not shine on whoever this was.

"And we shall stone them with stones, till the _die_. Thy kingdom come, Lord. _Thy will be done. On EARTH, as it is in heaven."_ Chills ran down all their spines as Logan felt the room pitch underneath him. Religious freaks were _never_ good for mutants. Certainly, not for Xavier's kids. A figure cut through the smoke, blue eyes taking in the mutants. When he eyed Kurt, he shouted. _"Demon!_ Blasphemy!" He was a strong built, black haired man with a thin goatee.

Only a glare from both Logan and Remy kept his sister in her spot._ "Hey!_ That's my brother! And, he's holier than_ you_!" She spat, her accent thick in a rage. The man was clad in something resembling a kevlar Avengers uniform. It was black, fitted with nets, guns, and other things they couldn't identify. Logan didn't like the look of it. It looked beyond military. Military money, maybe.

There was was a massive contraption on on his shoulder, possibly a weapon of some sort. A gatling gun, if Logan had to guess. None of them wanted to find out. He was startled by Kurt's appearance, but not seemingly them. "You wretched lot are not the_ only_ ones who have funding. State of the art planes._ Cloaking_ & scent changing devices." Sweat dripped down Logan's face. He knew entirely too much about them, and they didn't know who he was. "You_ will not_ stop the will of God. And, that's what I am, Abel Stryker. The _will of God._" The name sent a shiver down Logan's back.

"Kitty, elf._ Outta here._" The named X-Men looked at each other, still shocked by the hole blasted in their home. People couldn't get away with this, could they? "Now." He snarled when Rogue rolled up her sleeves. His healing factor isn't what it used to be, now in his ancient age.

"Get out." Rogue hissed, Remy standing straight backed, beside her. Cards dancing between his fingers. He too knew the danger in religious nuts. Justifying all they did with the lord's name, it made him sick.

"And... I will bring them unto the place Golgatha... And, I _will_ crucify them." Kurt couldn't help but tremble beside Kitty. He had never heard the bible quoted in such a sinister way. He was not a real man of god. "Starting first, the _demon_." Kitty grabbed him out of instinct, Rogue yowling like a cat at her brother being referred to that way.

"I'm sick of you." The whiskered man declared. Logan raised a hand and Abel levied a gun towards him. Depending on her invulnerability, she dashed in front of the man before she could think. _'Kid, don-_' A disk shot out of the device.

"Kurt! Katya, _go_!" Piotr ran after Rogue on instinct. Shellshocked, the pair watched in horror as she was shot back slamming into the kitchen. The weapon flew too fast to be identified, but it was large and heavy. Not a bullet. It makes a loud ringing sound when it cracks her chest, but Logan expects her back on her feet quickly. Piotr is ducking, weighing their foe's every move.

Kitty, Remy, and Nightcrawler disappeared in a plume of smoke, not reappearing far. They all made a startled noise, and a wheeze in the kitchen alerted that Rogue was_ not_ fine. His face falling, Logan whipped around. "Vibranium/Adamntium alloy weapon... Steve Rogers' design, but_ perfected_. Lethal. Even for mutants like that." Logan's blood ran cold. Images of Captain America being decapitated by the Red Skull flood his mind. His friend. Former teammate. Weeping, for all that he fought for. This country

"Because, Abel Stryker has_ done_ his research. _Anna Marie D'canto_. Super human strength, invulnerability. I knew to pack the heavy artillery." Logan struggles to keep hold of his tether on humanity. Kitty rolled her friend out of instinct, her skin as colorless as the goth's. This was why they did first aid training. Rogue's wheeze is only followed by a cough, and then Logan can smell her blood. He's shaking, wondering if he has the restraint not to leave him disemboweled on the ground.

"H-Hold on, I'll teleport us to the infirmary!" Kurt panicked, grabbing Kitty and his sister.

_"Non, de shock could kill her." _Remy hissed, a shaking hand on Rogue's shoulder. Logan held his claws in front of his face.

"Peter, get them to the infirmary. _Now._" The Russian wanted to protest. This Logan's healing factor is not like the other's. But, Rogue needed to get to the medbay, and fast. He reluctantly agreed, taking off from the man identified as Stryker. He ran to Kitty's side, hushing her when she begins to hyperventilate.

"P, she's-"

"Breathe, Katya. It will be alright." He looked down at the blue mutant beside her, his hands clasped together in a silent prayer, and Remy's who's eyes are glossy. He wasn't certain, but he sure hoped so.

_'Logan? Logan? I'm sorry for communicating this way, but Jean felt something. She says you are in trouble? We are heading back home. Tell me everything is alright.'_

"Meet your maker, abomination." The gun adjusts on Abel's shoulder. Logan smirked.

_'Yeah, we got trouble, Chuck. But, I'm about to handle it.'_

_'Logan-'_

He remembers waiting for a train to send him to hell. "You couldn't send me to him if you tried."

* * *

Logan emerged, streaked in blood to the infirmary an undetermined amount of time later. Nobody noticed. Dozens and dozens of needles and surgical instruments littered the floor around the table. Bent. Broken. As if shoved into walls. Brick. Concrete. Kitty and Kurt just watched Hank as he struggled to help Rogue. Piotr had a large, iron arm around them both, too tense to shift back.

Remy was zipping around the infirmary frantically, searching for anything that might be able to help Hank treat Rogue's impenetrable skin.

_'Her skin...'_ Logan thought, digging up old memories.

_"Goodness, Logan..." Storm admonished, shaking her head as Hank tried and failed to insert an IV in the girl's arm. She was water logged, covered in a shredded, emerald green catsuit. She was teenage aged, maybe a little older than Kitty. And, in pretty bad shape once Logan fished her out of the East River. When he bent down to give her CPR, something happened. Siphoned from him, he felt it. And, she slowly began to heal._

_She was a mutant. And, Hank was having difficulty treating her. "H-Her skin... It is impenetrable... I've never experienced anything like it." He shook his head in deep worry._

_"That is because her power is the absorption of memories, energies, and mutant abilities, if they possess some." Charles explained, Cerebro resting grimly in his lap. "And, because of Mystique, she's imprinted some, permanently." Logan listened, his hand covering his face. This kid in Mystique's hands was bad news, he knew that. "A whole, full mind is stuck in her own. That is her ailment, now." _

_Logan frowned at the thought of her anguish. "Can you help her?" Charles only pushed his mouth in a grim line. _

_"I will try, Logan. I will try." _

Rogue's wheeze was faint, her cracked ribcage pressing hard on her lungs. Hank was whistling nervously, wracking his brain for a way to treat her before she perished right in front of them. Kitty gasped when she noticed Logan standing grimly in the doorway. Covered in blood. His eyes black._ 'Logan, we are docking in the hangar.'_ He didn't answer, his eyes studying the infirmary.

He knew what he had to do, but he also knew what that meant. "Mr. Logan?" Kitty squeaked. The wheezing stopped. Tears were welling in Kurt's eyes. _'Logan?'_

"A part of her ribcage has broken and is pressing on her lungs. I can't pierce her skin, _how_ do I..." The blue furred mutant stared down, mute and so ashamed that he hadn't considered these complications sooner after she gained her powers. "How do I _help_ her?" Logan shut his eyes when Kitty covers her face.

_'Protect her, Chuck. Protect her from what's about to be in her mind. Please. Don't let her go through it.'_

_'Logan, WAIT.'_

"Carol Danvers' skin can't be pierced, Henry. Neither can her's." He informed, making his way to the observation table where she laid. Her chest was purple and black, making the man wince when he replays the moment in his head. "I'll heal her. My healin' factor don't work like it used to. So, she might still feel like shit. And, so will I." His stare hardened when he looked down at her._ 'But, she'll live.'_

He took a deep breath and placed his flesh to her face. He inhaled sharply, feeling the indescribable sensation tug at his being. For the first time in well over fifty years. He gritted his teeth, Kitty and Piotr bracing him when his knees begin to buckle. "A little longer, please." The blue skinned doctor advised, watching Rogue carefully. Logan shut his eyes and kept his hand sitting on her face. "There." Hank finished.

The salt haired man slumped into Piotr's arms and he placed him in a chair. Kitty wiped at her eyes, wrapping an arm around Kurt as he sighed. "She won't feel good, but she _will_ be fine." Hank carefully lifted her in his arms, a half conscious Logan watched. The bruising on her chest hadn't disappeared, but her ribs were no longer shattered. She'd be able to fill her lungs.

"Please, I know you are worried." A paled Jean, Scott, Ororo, and Charles were all at the mouth of the medbay. Scott cut through the women to Logan, eyeing the blood.

"Y-_You..._"

"Ain't dead." He grunted, rubbing a blistering temple. "Just won't be_ runnin_' fast no time soon." Scott only pressed his mouth shut. Logan growled at his easily detected disapproval. "Damn near cracked her sternum with shield made of vibranium _and_ adamantium." He snarled. Ororo was familiar with Wakanda, T'Challa, and the the world's sturdiest substance, Vibranium. A hit with that weapon would've killed or maimed anyone else, permanently.

_"Heavens..."_ She placed a hand on her feverish forehead. "Scott, let's get him to the Danger Room and I'll consider dressing his wounds." He only chuckled lightly.

_"Storm..."_ He couldn't be that mad Logan had put him in pain. And, he was impressed that he hadn't killed him. Slowly, the infirmary cleared out. When Logan felt he could stand, he moved to give Charles the space he needed to dam Rogue from seeing the memories of his time.

"Logan, no." Their dark eyes met. "I need you to _stay."_ He nodded, settling slowly down in the chair. _'I will need you.'_


	7. April 11th

_Every enemy they'd ever had, all storming the institute. All with their hands around his throat. Claws, flailing desperately. Slicing anything. Everything._

* * *

_"What's today, kit-kat?" Logan folded his arms and watched the multiple monitors. He had never seen such a busy news day._

_"April eleventh. Nothing out of the ordinary..." She called to him, watching the massive computer screen._

_"I'm gonna do another lap, Wolverine." The scrappy, painfully southern mutant with the skunky bangs announced. Her X-Suit was dark green and she was pulling a cropped jacket on, over it. There were over 40 distress signals and counting, all pouring into the mansion. Logan had never seen anything like it, not even during Apocalypse. The X-Men were not allies of the Avengers, but their silence and lack of presence had his heart hammering. 'What causes all of this..'_

_Kitty was typing furiously, trying to make sense of their technology. Nothing like this had ever happened before. Scott, the professor, Storm, and Jean were all away on a faraway recruitment mission. And, they weren't answering, either. "Rogue," The Canadian starts. Neither girl has ever seen him so anxious, before._

_"If they pull up here, it's their funeral! You two need to protect the students." She punched a palm with a fist. "Ya know, Ah'll be fine." She had long since battled Carol Danvers and stolen her super strength and invulnerability. She did a lot of heavy lifting at the institute. He felt it in his adamantium bones, frowning at Rogue and Kitty. This was big. Nothing like this had ever happened, before. He wasn't willing to bet either of their lives, or anyone else's._

_"Quick, Marie. Just see if there's somethin' fishy." She nodded, shooting off like a bullet. He looked back to the monitors as Kitty furiously worked. "Anything?" _

_"Every time I try to get into contact with someone, I get a high pitching ringing noise..." Kitty looked up at Logan with scared, blue eyes. Brown hair swept to the side for the today. "Thoughts?" He growled, a deep sound that rumbled in his throat. _

_"We need to get out of here, Kitty." _

_No sooner had he said that did an explosion rock them both. He grabbed the petite mutant and used his body to shield the blast. Fire and metal assault Logan's skin, but he keeps her safe. He curled his heavy, adamantium frame around the girl and waited for the War Room to stop rocking. "No. You needed to leave twenty minutes ago..." He's snarling while his wounds heal, Kitty shaking behind him. 'Who... Who is this?' _

_Who wasn't it? Magneto. Apocalypse. Stryfe. Dr. Doom. Doctor Octopus. The Red Skull. All enemies maybe Logan was privy to, but not the X-Men as a whole. Even the Canadian mutant shook as he stared Armageddon in the face. Only he, Kitty, and Rogue had hung back with the students. The rest of the team was on mission. 'No...' Omega Red shot adamantium tentacles that grabbed the former weapon, holding him crucifixion style. _

_"For every hero, how many villains do you think are? Huh? Twenty to one, fifty to one..." Omega chuckled in his obnoxious, Russian accent. Kitty screamed, feeling helpless as all the world's villains crammed into the War Room. She saw Mystique, laughing. Smiling. _

_"Logan!" _

_"Get out of here, Katherine! NOW!" She's sobbing, she's never heard him sound like that. Afraid. For her. For all them. Terrified. "GO, YOU CAN'T-"_

_Screams of children sounded downstairs. Mr. Sinister's trademark cackle. 'NO,' Some how, Logan's claws sliced through Omega's tentacle and his arm. "GO, hurry!" He screamed, tearing to the sounds of helpless children. Children, being bowled over like bowling pins by Bullseye and the Silver Samurai, people Logan hadn't heard from in ages. _

_Mr. Sinister ripped a chunk of wall telepathically and hurled it at kids, struggling to use their powers to evade harm. "C'mon! Move it kids!" Logan heard something slam. 'Rogue,' "Just like we trained, it's for real, this time! Evacuate! Logan's here!" Tears welled in the man's eyes as watched Kitty and the children struggle, Rogue trying to hold of the Juggernaut and the Marauders. _

_This was the end. Of everything. His claws puncture Doc Oc's throat. He slices through Sinister's leg, his desperateness affecting him. 'I can't let them... I can't let them...' Rogue slammed into the wall. Kitty narrowly keeps Banshee and Danielle from being shot. He lost all restraint. Forgot everything Charles had taught him. This was the time he was supposed to. 'I have to... I have to kill...' _

_He began screaming, ferally. Slicing. Whirling. "Oh my god!" The villains say, as if they have a right. _

_"He's lost it!" _

_"Mad dog!" Mastermind hisses. _

_"Murderer!" Screams Domino as he guts her. It didn't matter. _

_"RUN KIDS, GO!" The young ones are frozen in place by the display of terror. The violence. The blood. All of it. "GO, TO SAFETY!" They just stared. And cried. Already traumatized beyond repair. "Cyclops! Charles! Ororo! Everyone!" Didn't they know what was happening? That the mansion was being blown apart from the inside? There goes Stryfe's head. _

_The biggest bad's in the X-Men's careers, and they sounded like children going down. Pussies. The Blob sends Logan flying through a window, but Rogue picks him up over his head and tosses him into the Juggernaut, Kitty phasing close behind her. He was launched back into the fray, digging his claws deep into Lady Deathstrike's chest. Nothing but tears wash down her face. 'This is weird...' But, he moves on._

_"Nobody's seen them since the alarms went off!" One of the tearful kids explain. _

_"Just go!" Logan declares, standing in a spray of blood. "Just get outta here, and don't turn back!" Some did, some just watched, crying. Weeping. 'Why...' Rogue hit the floor, but Sinister was finally down. Creed was coming, and he didn't scare the former X-Force member. Slowly, the mansion was clearing. 'I can do this, I have to...' _

_Only Bullseye and Mystique remained, and they were making Logan's life as hard as possible. They didn't want to die, for some reason. Mystique was a hellish version of herself, making past encounters seem like child's play in comparison. She was hissing and spitting. Crying and yowling like a cat every time he cut her. Every time she couldn't believe it. "Why? Why? Why?" _

_She knew this wasn't a game. She crossed a line. They made him kill, again. "WHY?" _

_And Bullseye, for all the terrible things he'd put S.H.I.E.L.D and the Avengers through, now he cowered. Begged. Barely defended himself against the claws. They would float right through him, catching him sometimes and spilling blood others. He kept saying why too. "WHY?" "Please?" Why did the villains beg? This was their fate. They would've snuffed children. Kids. Anyone, if he didn't kill what could he have done?_

_But as Mystique kept talking, something began to feel weird. _

_"This isn't you. It's somebody else. I'll kill you. I'll... Ah'll kill you. Ah'll kill you. Ah hate you, Ah HATE you. Why, you? Why? Tell me! Tell me, why!"_

_Mystique hated him, but even she had too much pride to beg like this for her life. And, Bullseye was hopping around like a bunny rabbit, whimpering. Could barely bring himself to touch Logan. "Please... Please!" _

_"We are your friends! We are your friends! We are your friends... Mr. Logan. We're you're friends, Mr. Logan. You, you don't want to hurt us... Why? Why, would you do this? I don't understand..."_

_'Who calls me Mr. Logan?' _

_"Kitty." _

_"You're supposed to be our friend..." _It wasn't Bullseye's voice. It was Kitty's. He blinked.

_"Ah'll kill you, Ah swear to god..."_ Then, a gargling noise. Choking. Rogue's voice. He blinked again.

'_No... Please.'_ All the air rushed out of the room as he slowly began to understand. Could he take down every single villain storming the school? _Alone?_

"Aw, _oh_ dear..." A fog descended inside, covering everything. Slowly, it all began to change. It was not Bullseye in his arms but...

_"NO,"_ Katherine lay there, not much of her isn't covered in blood. Her pretty, petite face is covered in slash marks. Her uniform barely covers her decently, anymore. His claws shredded the lycra with ease. She's still slowly leaking, even though her heart stopped beating so long ago. How did one, tiny girl hold so much blood? It was _everyone's_ blood.

He breathed through his nose, and there wasn't one teammate's he didn't smell. "Please,_ god._.." He tightened his grip on the brunette and his fingers squelched in the viscera. Not one part of her was left uncut. Gored. Destroyed. "K-K-Katherine... Kitty, I-" She died wondering _why_. Begging him to know why. His chest squeezes tight in a vice as his vision tunnels. He did this to them all,_ didn't he?_

His own yellow and black uniform is diced, hanging off in ribbons. Half a mask clinging to his face.

"You_ really_ thought you could take us... All alone? That didn't tip you off first? It's almost as pathetic as it is funny." He didn't spare a look to the globe-headed mutant gloating above him. Mysterio's illusion had fooled all of his senses. His smell. His touch. His intuition. Fully deceived and immersed in his lies._ 'No... How... I would never.'_ Hank laid in front of him, one of his eyes gouged out. Scott, his neck obviously broken.

The stench of death becomes overwhelming. Everyone. All of them. _Dead._

"_A-Ah... Ah hate you._.." Haunted, he looks up. Rogue's white streaks are stained red, but her green eyes are focused on him. She's dying, but still using her last breath to crawl near him. To murder him _herself_ for what he's done. Bile rises in his throat at the disgust of what he's done. The girl he found. Saved. Swore to protect, always.

"R-R-Rogue.. No..."

_She'd flown deep into the heart of Canada with a tiny duffel bag. She wasn't like the others. She couldn't touch. She couldn't date. She'd killed. Only Logan understood her torment, the nightmares of others that Mystique forced her to touch. Ghosts and shadows of people, fighting her fragile mind for control. Mystique had always told her she'd be with her, or alone. And, she was starting to believe it. _

_Logan had tracked her easily, knowing his psyche had driven her north. He stalked her like prey and gave her a few days on the grid to try and sort it out. _

_"I'll take care of ya, kid." He told her, watching the horizon as he lit a cigarette. She's a scrawny child in ratty clothes, not the strong woman he cut down. She looked at him, and he sees the uncertainty. "Give the others a chance, skunk. They can't be so bad if I stick around." This was true, the man was already in her head. He didn't like much. But, he seemed to care about her. That was the only thing she was sure of. _

_"You sure?" He looked at her, a twinkle in his eye. _

_"This look like a man who's sure?" He took a long drag on his cigarette and the girl nodded in her green hood. "That's what I thought. Now, let's go home." _

_"Ah hate you, Wolverine. Monster..."_ Tears drip down her face and mix with blood. He drops Kitty and tries to move fast enough, even if she hates him. But, it's already too late. Her throat is slit. Even his healing factor couldn't bring her back from the precipice. She died. Hating him. Her mother's piercing gaze. He replayed hunting Mystique over and over in his mind. The girl he found. Rescued. Rehabilitated. Took responsibility for. Died hating him. Trying to kill him. Save her friends from his claws.

_"This isn't you. It's somebody else. I'll kill you. I'll... Ah'll kill you. Ah'll kill you. Ah hate you, Ah HATE you. Why, you? Why? Tell me! Tell me, why!"_

He covered his face with a shaking hand._ 'No...'_ Jean's practically cracked in half. The professor gored and hanging above them all, impaled._ 'God, help me...'_

"My thanks on the behalf of the villain community, Logan. We couldn't have done it without _you_." Bobby's head was on the floor by his feet. Ororo's dead eyes staring right at him.

_"James, no..." _

He felt ill. Gumbo. Kurt. They didn't stand a chance. None of them stood a chance. All it took...

_"And?" He snapped, his stomach flipping when the red head doesn't flinch at his tone. "What if I don't want help, Jeannie? Maybe, what's locked up in my head is locked up there for a reason." She smiled at him, patiently. It made his heart wrench even more. Damn her, why did she have to be so beautiful. Kind. Smart. Amazing. He wasn't supposed to have feelings. Fall in love. He'd lived long enough to know how it always ended. Death and his heartbreak.  
_

_"But, that's what friend's do. You always help us." He only grunted, avoided emerald eyes at all costs. Protected and saved more than help. "You can trust us, y'know. You're part of a team." Logan snorted, looking up angrily. _

_"I trust no one." Not even that makes her face falter. She only approached the man slowly and placed a kiss on his cheek. _

_"Then, I won't stop until that changes, Logan." He dropped his eyes to the frost-bitten ground. _

_'D-Damn you, woman...' _

* * *

_"CHARLES!"_ The psychic's feedback from probing Rogue's memories was putting Logan in unbearable pain, so he could kill the others. "Charles, it's alright! They're my memories, it's-" Rogue lay still as the man stared, glossy eyed and his forehead filled with bullets of sweat. He had seen it as Wolverine saw it, and it was worse than even his worst nightmares. He regained control of his mental abilities and whimpered into his hands, shaking. "Charles..." Logan grunted, forcing him to look in his eyes.

"Charles!" Ororo stood in the door way, Scott coming right beside her. He was panting, clammy as well.

"What was-"

_"Professor!_" When Charles didn't respond to any of them, Jean kneeled down beside him. "Professor, is everything..." She wrapped him in a hug when he only sobbed, his mind still reeling from what he saw_. 'No... How could they, no Logan... You poor, poor man...'_ He shivered in her embrace, trying not to imagine her sliced and gored by his trusted friend. And, trying not to project any of it, accidentally. Now, he understood the man's initial refusal to be near the school.

"Professor_, please._ Say something." Jean urged, her hands shaking on his shoulders. She'd never seen him lose control of his own powers like this before, not even from emotion. She had the more widely empathetic abilities. '_Whatever he saw,'_ She thought to herself. _'It was bad.'_ Scott looked at a resting Rogue, his brow furrowed before he turned to the bald mutant in the wheelchair.

"Is everything okay? I've never seen you like this, professor." Scott added, his face as stoic as ever. Whatever had shaken the man so much, he expected not to be kept out of the loop.

"Perhaps a dampener pill wouldn't be such a bad idea..." Ororo cautioned, massaging a temple. A few bad night terrors and the professor could kill them all, she knew that. He only sighed, rubbing his forehead shakily.

"Yes, Storm. That may be for the better." Her eyes widened when he relented, easily. The man was no fan of dimming his extraordinary, telepathic powers. They kept the institute safe. But, with what he has just witnessed, he can only expect more nightmares. For a time to come. The white haired mutant left quickly to fetch the medicine, Charles' first two students looking down at him in concern.

"Chuck," Logan growls, his face weighted with thoughts. "Gonna be alright?" He'd gotten used to repressing the ugly truth. Others cannot say that. Charles nodded after a moment.

"I will be.." But, his words are short and tense. He's still reeling.

"Will she..." Jean clutches her chest when she begins to feel Logan's intense shame, guilt, and worry for the girl in the hospital bed. "She'll be alright. She won't s-"

"She shouldn't." Charles said, his head bowed grimly. "I treated those memories in the same manner as Carol Danvers' psyche, locked far away from her organic life experiences. I can't help but suspect that her other memories and psyches may give her a hard time after this." Logan shut his eyes in frustration. He knew if those memories resurfaced she could have psychotic break. She could hate him. Want to kill him, banish him away.

_'Could anyone blame her?'_ He cast a forlorn look at her in the infirmary bed, trying not to let his own mind wander to rotten memories.

_"Chére_, is she-" Remy appeared in the doorway, looking a bit more disheveled than usual. He was just in his dark skin suit and clunky boots, stubble beginning to grow on his chin. Charles looked at him with tired eyes.

"She's resting, Remy. You may visit with her." He looked up at Jean, doing his best to conceal his thoughts. "I'm alright now, I wanted to talk with Logan." She nodded, dropping her stare from the whiskered man. "Don't worry over me, really. Just a bit of stress." She frowned at this, it was much more than just 'stress'.

"Of course, just... Let us know if you need anything." Jean wasn't as nosy as her boyfriend was known for being, but she wanted to know what had caused his reaction. It had to be something absolutely heartbreaking to be felt throughout the mansion. Scott wrapped an arm around her and led her out as Remy approached Logan.

"Could Ah have a minute, homme?" His red and black eyes were fixed on her face. The broad shouldered man snorted.

"You can have_ five. _I'll be countin'. Then, I'll be back in here to make sure she's healin' alright." The cajun only nodded at that, drifting to her bedside. Logan followed Charles as he wheeled out, rubbing the back of his head.

_"Logan_... I..."

"Not really much to say, is there?" Their eyes met and the telepath looked away, again. If he met Logan's eyes he feared he would cry. And, Logan would not react well to perceived pity. Quite, the contrary.

"How... How can you try and_ bare_ this burden..." The rough man shrugged.

"I have to. Ain't like I can really_ die,_ I've tried." Charles' face sobered, but he knows the man and is not surprised.

"Logan... What did you do, your time... What _happened?_" He doesn't want to know, but he can't stop himself from asking. If it's anyone's job to make sure this doesn't happen, again, it was his. He tried to brace himself for the answer. Logan studies the white tile of the medbay floor for while.

"Mysterio... You think telepaths are bad, illusions are bad... I _smelled_ them._ Felt t_hem. For me, it was all of the world's villains. For everyone else..." Charles sees him grip his hands, tight. "As for what happened right after... To_ m_e?" His face sagged. "Who knows. The remaining heroes, Avengers... They had a final showdown in Las Vegas. Without some mutant aid, though..." A tear slipped down his eye and Charles hung his head.

Even for all the world's villains, this was especially cruel. They chose to use Logan to do it. "All I remember is walking through the trees, screamin' and cryin'. Coulda been days, coulda been weeks, for all I knew. All that stuck out was the leaves bein' wet and the taste of blood in my mouth." He looked away, his shame palpable. "And the animals." He whispered. "They were so _afraid_ of me."

"Oh, Logan..." Their eyes met, both men reluctant.

"I laid on the train tracks, that night." Charles gasped in shock. He can't even begin to imagine the pain. "I thought Wolverine died that day, god knows I tried to kill him for what I done..."

"This isn't your fault." The telepath tries to say, but he knows the man in front of him will never believe him.

"If things _ever_ go left, Chuck. If I ever start acting funny..." The bald man looked away, now. "You do what you have to."

"It won't come to that." He spared a thought to the horrifying memories swirling in Rogue's head. "Now that I know, I _promise_ that." Logan placed an awkward hand on his shoulder.

"Get some rest. I'll look over her, make sure there's no problems." Charles nodded.

"It'll be okay, Logan." He tried to scrub the images of Jean, assassinated from his mind. "Some way." The weathered man only grimaced.

"Wish I believed that, Chuck."


	8. Truth: interlude

Rogue took a deep breath, and her shattered chest ached. She hadn't been injured like this in a good, long time. She didn't really understand who Carol Danvers was. Ms. Marvel. She was an intergalactic Avenger. Her memories made little sense to Rogue (when she had them, and she was glad to see them go). Knowledge of gods, interspace travel, and wars in other dimensions come into mind.

And, she won all of them. Rogue didn't carbon copy 100% of her powers, but the overflow has left her with as much strength as the Juggernaut. Faster flight than the Angel. And, skin more durable than Piotr's. Her mind and her psyches sent her to the infirmary, but body did not. Adamantium is a hard enough substance to at least break her bones, she knows now.

She rubbed the abused skin on her sternum, cringing as she tried to sit up. The infirmary is dim, and somebody beside her is grunting. She sees Kitty curled up on a couch, and Logan sitting beside her. His head dipped in a restless sleep. He was sweating, and growling, twitching from his night terror. Rogue can relate. Almost every night somebody else's memories woke her up. Screaming. Crying. Raging.

She reached for him to let him know that she was feeling a little better. If she knew the man at all, he had something to do with that. _"P-Pops_," She called, her voice hoarse. She touched the arm of his jacket and he awoke, his eyes as black as coal. His snarl wakes Kitty, shrieking as he slams Rogue to the wall with a twitching hand. "LOGA-"

"No!" Kitty cries, jumping to her feet. He's raising a hand when Kitty shoots him with a taser gun, Rogue yelling. Foot steps were already thundering down the hall. Though she was terrified, Rogue was unharmed (thanks to Kitty's quick acting). "It was only a dream, you're at the institute now! _It isn't April 11th_!" Logan groaned, writhing on the ground with a hand on his face.

Rogue just watched, trying to wonder what could torture even Wolverine like this. She was willing to bet the answer was in her head, and she needed to find out before it surprised her._ 'What if Ah go postal?'_ She still hadn't forgotten when her powers lost control. It took Wolverine and a prayer to talk her down. She could really hurt people, now. "K-Kitty... What're you_ doin_?"

"What he asked me to... If..."

"Good job, Katherine." He bit into his hand, slowly returning to his senses. Nobody got his beserker rages quite like her. He took a deep breath and tried to steady his breathing. It'd all felt so real again. Fighting, life and death to save them all. Save the professor's dream. To not let all the heroes die, die in vain. Only for it to be _his_ fault. Every time he slept, he relived it again.

Rogue watched him, veins jutting out of worn, leathery skin. Something worse was in his head than her worst memories. "Brooklyn,_ y'alright_?" When she realized he meant her, _his_ her, not this one, Rogue nodded. He called her a lot of different things she didn't understand. Just that, wherever she was, he cared about that Rogue very much. More than he can consciously let on. Like, she was _really_ gonna marry Gambit, someday. And, he would've walked her down the aisle. Rogue doesn't know how she knows that, but she _knows_. And, her eyes tear up. "You okay?"

She tries to speak but Remy, Scott, and Hank all file in, in that order. "Anna," The blue mutant begins.

_"Petite,_" Remy hooks her arms under hers and lifts her away from the grey haired man, forcing his face even. Scott's face is already going red.

"What's _goin_-"

"Had a bad dream, Scooter." Logan growls as he stands up. "Kit-kat took care of it." In spite of the tense atmosphere, Kitty smiled widely. The shaded man only sighed, unsure of what they were supposed to do with this wild and different Logan. Gambit frowned at the shorter girl beside him, looking tired.

"Sure y'okay?" She nodded, rubbing her bangs.

"Yeah, Rem. Ah... Ah think Logan and Ah were about to talk." She rubbed her arm, staring at the whiskered man, unsurely. He grunted in disapproval.

"We _were_, now?" Scott exhaled.

"Yes, I'd imagine you have a lot to talk about." Charles announced from the doorway, his eyes looking exhausted. Ororo stood at his back, peering inside. He did his best with the chaotic memories, but he wouldn't leave it up to chance. And, the girl would seek truth. Any who knew Rogue, knew that. "Let us give them privacy, I'd imagine Rogue is safest here." Both Scott and Remy press their mouths shut. They hated being left out of information. It was floating around their heads.

Silently, everyone cleared the sterile room. "Shouldn't you get a little more rest before you open up this can of worms, darlin'?" He sighed when she shook her head.

"No, pops. Ah need to know. What are you torturin' yourself over? What won't you forgive you for. What made Logan feel like he_ deserved_ to die like that? Tell me..." She looked into dark eyes, tears streaming down her face. He watched her, carefully. She was shaking. "Tell me so I can try to forgive him." His eyes softened. The kids loved him so damn much, all of them.

"You know, I fished you out of the East River?" He was grimacing. She shook her head no, wiping her face with her arm. "Yeah, your mom had just sent you on your last mission. Didn't go so good. Anyways, after that, I'd call you Brooklyn to get on yer nerves. Cause, I found ya in _Manhattan._.." Rogue smiled, slightly. It was a very Wolverine thing to do, and the type of thing that would bother her.

"Ya let me ride your bike, before everyone else." He cocked an eyebrow. "No explanation. In fact, you made anyone who asked do a lap in the Danger Room. Even _Scott._" He barked out a laugh, imagining the square's face. Sounded like something he would do.

"I don't know if I can tell you, Rogue. I don't know if you want to know." Their eyes met for a painfully long moment.

"Ah _have_ to know. Please." She sniffed._ 'For you and the other Logan.'_ He looked down at gnarled, scarred hands. Hands that have killed more people than they've saved. He clenched a fist, tight.

"Rogue... Ah... _They_." He shut his eyes. "Mysterio is an Omega plus level illusionist. He put me in the illusion that all of the X-Men's enemies... All of the villains of the world stormed the institute." Her heart stopped. "They_ looked_ different. _Smelt_ different._ Felt_ different. Everything. I thought I made a choice between my soul and the school. And, I killed everyone of those villains." Rogue buried her face in her gloved hands.

_"No, no, no..."_ She gasped, feeling like she might wretch.

"But, there _were_ no villains. Only Mysterio and all of the X-Men. Every, single one of them. Kitty. Jubilation._ You."_ He hope she meets his eyes but her head's dropped. "I stabbed you all through the heart while you cried, begged why, tried to kill me. I had no idea. I didn't realize until..."

_"A-Ah... Ah hate you..." Haunted, he looks up. Rogue's white streaks are stained red, but her green eyes are focused on him. She's dying, but still using her last breath to crawl near him. To murder him herself for what he's done. Bile rises in his throat at the disgust of what he's done. The girl he found. Saved. Swore to protect, always._

He took in a deep breath. "It was too late. Much too late. The kids ran into the night, and..." The man's eyes glazed over as Rogue just breathed into her hands and tried to understand what he'd said. How, how could he? How did he live with it? Why him? It made her feel sick to her stomach. Would that have been them if Logan lived? Had he always known he'd be a weapon, the worst one of all? Before she knows it, her heads spinning.. "I had to heal you, but I'll always be sorry I put that in your head."

She looked up, finally. She pawed at the remnants of her makeup before placing a hand on his shoulder. "Ah _forgive_ you." They were both in her head, nobody could punish Logan more than he'd punished himself.

_"Laid on the tracks... Ten times the trains ran me over, and still I'm cursed in this wretched life. You want this wretched juju, a man so tainted he wont even pop these claws..." He remembers the pain like it was yesterday, even if it was half a century ago. He'd never felt anything like it before, or after. He likes to think he nuked his nerves. Pain never felt as good as the tenth train._

She felt a chill as he peered down at her in concern. "You don't have to, Rogue. I don't." She dropped her stare.

"Ah know." The whiskered man grumpily ushered her towards the infirmary bed.

"Alright, well. If you got your answers you're supposed to be getting rest." He threw the sheet over her with a grunt. "I'll send Gumbo in here to make sure." She nodded, her mind turning with hundreds of thoughts. She called out to him before he'd pulled out of the basement.

"Pops," He hung still, his back to her. "Thanks for telling me." He only grunted, stumbling up the stairs to find a lighter.


End file.
